biography for taylor swift

Taylor Swift

Fourteen-time Grammy winner Taylor Swift made a splash in the country music world in 2006 and is now one of the biggest pop music stars.

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1989-present

Taylor Swift News: Pop Superstar Wins Historic Album of the Year Award and Announces a New Album at the 2024 Grammys

“I would love to tell you that this is the best moment of my life, but I feel this happy when I finish a song, or when I crack the code to a bridge that I love, or when I’m shot-listing a music video, or when I’m rehearsing with my dancers or my band or getting ready to go to Tokyo to play a show,” the pop star said during her acceptance speech at the February 4 ceremony. “All I want to do is keep being able to do this.”

It wasn’t the only big news from Swift of the night. While onstage collecting the Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights , the singer surprised fans by announcing a new album: The Tortured Poets Department .

“My brand new album comes out April 19. It’s called The Tortured Poets Department ,” Swift said. She immediately posted the news on her social media accounts, including photos of what could be the new album’s cover as well as a short note that concludes “All’s fair in love and poetry... Sincerely, The Chairman of The Tortured Poets Department.”

Swift restarts her already record-breaking Eras Tour in Tokyo on February 7. Before the concert series is scheduled to wrap in December, she will perform in 16 countries, including a handful of dates in the United States. Fans continue to speculate on whether she will be able to attend the 2024 Super Bowl on February 11 to watch her boyfriend, Travis Kelce , and the Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers.

Quick Facts

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Musician Taylor Swift began earning renown as a country singer by age 16. Early hits like “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me” appealed to country and pop fans alike and helped fuel the multiplatinum success of her albums, including the award-winning Fearless . Now a pop megastar with 14 Grammys to her name, she is the first artist to win Album of the Year four times. Named Time ’s 2023 Person of the Year, Swift is currently performing on her record-breaking Eras Tour and is dating professional football player Travis Kelce . The “Shake It Off” and “Anti-Hero” singer plans to release her new album, The Tortured Poets Department , in April 2024.

FULL NAME: Taylor Alison Swift BORN: December 13, 1989 BIRTHPLACE: Reading, Pennsylvania ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Sagittarius

Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania. Swift spent her early years with her parents, Scott and Andrea, and brother, Austin, on the family’s Christmas tree farm in nearby Wyomissing. “I had the most magical childhood, running free and going anywhere I wanted to in my head,” she told Rolling Stone . She learned to ride horses and even competed for a time, but a greater passion soon took root.

Swift followed in the musical footsteps of her grandmother Marjorie Finlay, who was a professional opera singer. By age 10, Swift was singing at a variety of local events, including fairs and contests. She sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a Philadelphia 76ers basketball game at age 11 and began writing her own songs and learning guitar at 12 years old. Her early music idols included Shania Twain and The Chicks.

To pursue her music career, Swift often visited Nashville, Tennessee, the country music capital. There, she cowrote songs and tried to land a recording contract. Noting her dedication, her family moved to nearby Hendersonville when she was 13 in an attempt to further young Swift’s career. She attended Hendersonville High School before finishing out her education through the home schooling program of Aaron Academy, a private Christian school, once her musical career took off.

One of today’s biggest pop stars, Swift has worked her way from performing at local venues in Tennessee to commanding stadiums full of Swifties—her adoring fans—on international tours. A stellar performance at The Bluebird Café in Nashville helped her get a contract with Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine Records at age 14.

She spent her early career as a country musician, and her first single, “ Tim McGraw ,” was named after one of the genre’s biggest stars. The 2006 song, which she wrote in her freshman year math class, became a Top 10 hit on Billboard’s country chart, quickly launching Swift into the spotlight. McGraw and fellow country music singer Faith Hill even brought Swift on their Soul2Soul tour the next year as an opening act. Reminiscing on the tour years later, McGraw told ET Canada , “Faith and I both knew that there was no stopping her. She’s a special talent.”

It wasn’t long before Swift began receiving critical praise for her work. The teenager won the Horizon Award from the Country Music Association (CMA) and the Academy of Country Music (ACM) Award for Top New Female Vocalist in 2007. The next year, she was nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammys. She became the youngest artist to win the Grammy for Album of the Year, for Fearless in 2010.

The country music darling eventually began experimenting with genre. With her fifth album, 1989 , she decisively reintroduced herself as a pop musician. Her new sound excited fans, and the 2014 release is one of her most successful to date, spending 11 weeks atop the Billboard 200 and selling more than 1.2 million copies in its first week.

Not everything about her music changed, though. Personal experiences, including her romantic relationships, continue to fuel Swift’s songwriting. “I’m enthralled by relationships, and I love the drama in them, but that’s usually where it lives,” Swift told Rolling Stone in 2009, maintaining “I’m not a dramatic person.” Hardly the first musician to utilize this practice, the pop star usually doesn’t reveal who her song subjects are, unless they are family or friends. Instead, her loyal fans obsess over easter eggs in her lyrics and music videos to pinpoint a likely person.

Since March 2023, Swift has been performing on her headline-grabbing Eras Tour. It marks her sixth international tour, having first headlined her own concert series after the release of her award-winning sophomore album, Fearless . When presale tickets for the Eras Tour went live in November 2022, so many fans attempted to snag their seats that Ticketmaster canceled the general sale, leading to a congressional hearing about the debacle. Already one of the highest-grossing touring musicians as of July 2022, Swift has earned more than $1 billion on the Eras Tour so far—surpassing Elton John ’s record-setting farewell tour that spanned five years. The Eras Tour wraps in December 2024 after dozens more concerts, mostly abroad.

Swift’s successes in 2023 also include the release of the 1989 (Taylor’s Version) album and the record-setting concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour , two more No. 1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, tying with Drake as the artist with the most Billboard Music Awards in history, dethroning Bad Bunny as Spotify’s most streamed artist of the year, and achieving billionaire status. All that culminated in Time naming her its 2023 Person of the Year. Swift is the fifth woman to receive the honor.

Early in 2024, Swift became the first artist to win the Grammy for Album of the Year four times, further cementing her place in the history books.

Swift has won 14 Grammy Awards out of 52 nominations.

She was first nominated in 2008 for Best New Artist. Although Amy Winehouse claimed the honor, 20-year-old Swift lived up to her promising career start by collecting four Grammys the next year. Fearless won Album of the Year and Best Country Album, and “White Horse” was named Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 2009.

Swift has now won Album of the Year four times: for Fearless , 1989 , folklore , and Midnights. She is the only artist to have accomplished this feat, setting the record in 2024. Midnights also won the award for Best Pop Vocal Album this year.

Even so, Swift has never won the top song honor of Song of the Year, though she has received a record seven nominations in the category. As for Best Country Song, the artist has won twice in five nominations; “Mean” earned the trophy the year after “White Horse” did.

The singer-songwriter has won a host of other accolades, including nine CMA Awards and eight ACM Awards. Both country music organizations have twice named her Entertainer of the Year. Since her first in 2009, Swift has taken home 23 Video Music Awards, second only to Beyoncé . Billboard named her Woman of the Year in 2012, one of Swift’s 29 awards from the publication.

In December 2023, Swift notched another first when she received her first Golden Globe Award nomination for Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour . Her concert film competed in but didn’t win Cinematic and Box Office Achievement at the January 2024 ceremony.

Ever since her first single, “Tim McGraw,” in 2006, Swift’s music has found a home on the Billboard charts. As of February 5, 2024, she has had 232 songs grace the mainstream Hot 100. That includes 11 No. 1 hits and a record-setting 49 songs in the top 10; no woman has had more top 10 hits, and Swift only trails Drake among all artists. She also holds nine No. 1 Hot Country Songs, including “Our Song” and “Should’ve Said No.”

“Fearless” debuted at No. 9 on the mainstream chart in November 2008, marking Swift’s first top 10 song. Her first chart-topper was roughly four years away. That came in September 2012 with Grammy-nominated “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” Her other No 1. songs include:

• “Shake It Off”
• “Blank Space”
• “Bad Blood”
• “Look What You Made Me Do”
• “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)”
• “Anti-Hero”
• “Cruel Summer”
• “Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) [From The Vault]”

At 10 minutes, 13 seconds, “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” is the longest No. 1 hit in history. “Shake It Off” is Swift’s only diamond-certified song, having sold the equivalent of 10 million copies.

To date, Swift has released 18 albums, including 10 original studio albums, four rereleases, and four live albums. Excluding those live recordings, every album since her sophomore effort, Fearless , has nabbed the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 for at least one week. In December 2023, she became the first living artist to have five albums rank among the chart’s top 10 simultaneously.

Her first album came in 2006 with Taylor Swift , and her most recent all-new music is on 2022’s Midnights . Her latest rerecorded album, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) , debuted in October 2023. Swift will release a new album, The Tortured Poets Department , on April 19, 2024.

Her albums, in order, are:

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The young musician’s self-titled debut album was released in October 2006 when she was 16. Spurred on by the success of songs like “Tim McGraw,” “Teardrops on My Guitar,” and “Our Song,” it became a No. 1 country album in August 2007 and held the top spot for a total of 24 weeks. Indicating her future crossover success, the album also reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200. Taylor Swift has sold more than 7 million copies to date.

In November 2008, Swift released her next album, Fearless , which quickly hit the top of both the country and pop charts, marking her first No. 1 mainstream album. It maintained its apex ranking on the charts for weeks on end. By the end of the year, Swift had become 2008’s highest-selling country artist.

Now a Diamond-certified album, Fearless earned Swift her first Grammy Awards in January 2010. In addition to Best Country Album, it took home one of the night’s top honors with Album of the Year. The track “White Horse” won Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance, while “You Belong With Me” was nominated for three Grammys. Also named Album of the Year at the CMA and ACM Awards, Fearless featured the top 10 hits “Love Story,” “Fearless,” and “Change.” 

After skeptics doubted her involvement in her songwriting, Swift chose to write her next album alone. Speak Now came out in October 2010 and immediately found success. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and sold more than 1 million copies in its first week. Popular tracks included “Mine,” “Back To December,” “Speak Now,” and the Grammy-winning “Mean.” Swift was once again nominated for Best Country Album at the Grammys but didn’t win. 

Edging her way into pop music, Swift followed with Red , which featured her first No. 1 single “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and also topped 1 million in its first week of sales. The October 2012 release collected Grammy nominations for Album of the Year and Best Country Album. “I Knew You Were Trouble,” “Red,” and “Begin Again” were among its most popular songs.

With her next effort, Swift stepped outside her country music roots squarely into mainstream pop. She released 1989 in October 2014. It tied her record (set by Fearless ) for most weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, produced three chart-topping singles, and moved more than 1.2 million copies in its first week. That made Swift the first artist to pass the 1 million mark in opening-week sales for three albums. She won her second Album of the Year award at the Grammys in February 2016 as well as Best Pop Vocal Album for her work.

In late August 2017, using an image of a snake, Swift revealed that she would release her sixth studio album, reputation , that November. Swift debuted the first single, “Look What You Made Me Do,” on August 24. In the music video, Swift played characters of all her misrepresentations. The video had more than 19 million views on YouTube within the first day.

Days before reputation ’s scheduled November 10 release, its secret tracklist was leaked to social media. Swift responded by posting the complete list to her Instagram page: 15 songs, including a collaborative effort with Ed Sheeran and rapper Future titled “End Game.” The two later appeared in the video for the track, which debuted in January 2018.

Reputation sold 1.05 million copies in the United States over its first four days. Along with giving the artist her fourth consecutive album to surpass 1 million in sales for its opening week, that total made reputation the top-selling album of 2017. Its success continued into 2018, surpassing 2 million in sales while generating the release of seven singles. By the end of the year, Grammy-nominated reputation had been honored with Favorite Pop/Rock Album at the American Music Awards and Top Selling Album at the Billboard Music Awards.

On April 26, 2019, Swift debuted “ME!” with Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco, along with a video of the duo singing and dancing amid a panoply of elaborate sets and swirling colors. It became the first single from her seventh studio album, Lover , with “You Need to Calm Down” and the title track also hitting the airwaves as singles over the next few months. The album was released in August.

In November, Swift claimed a whopping six wins at the American Music Awards, including Artist of the Year and Artist of the Decade honors. Swift also received her third consecutive Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album. A few weeks later, it was reported that Lover was the only album to sell 1 million copies in the U.S. in 2019.

Nearly four years later, Lover ’s “Cruel Summer” was promoted as her latest single amid her highly successful Eras tour. The song enjoyed renewed success, becoming Swift’s 10 th song to top the Billboard Hot 100.

On July 23, 2020, Swift announced on Instagram that she planned to release her eighth studio album, folklore . The 16-track album—made with Aaron Dessner of The National, Jack Antonoff of Bleachers, and Justin Vernon, better known as Bon Iver—debuted the next day at midnight. The alternative influence of her collaborators was apparent throughout.

Folklore produced the top 10 hits “The 1” and “Exile” featuring Bon Iver, plus went on to win Album of the Year at the 2021 Grammys. Swift also made history that year, becoming the only female solo artist to win that award three times.

Less than six months later, Swift dropped another surprise album to accompany folklore . She announced on December 10, 2020, that evermore would release at midnight the next day. “To put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs,” Swift wrote in a social media post . “In the past I’ve always treated albums as one-off eras and moved onto planning the next one after an album was released. There was something different with folklore. In making it, I felt less like I was departing and more like I was returning.” Evermore earned a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year, though unlike its sister album, it didn’t win.

Swift released her 10 th studio album, Midnights , at midnight on October 21, 2022. Three hours later, she released seven extra tracks in a deluxe version titled Midnights (3 am Edition) . The album broke new ground for the already prolific Swift, making her the first artist to have a song on all of the top 10 slots on the Billboard Hot 100. That included “Anti-Hero” at No. 1, “Snow On The Beach” featuring Lana Del Rey , “Lavender Haze,” and “Karma.” Actor Zoë Kravitz earned writing credits on the latter two songs, and Jack Antonoff played a heavy hand in the album’s creation, cowriting 11 of Midnights ’ 13 songs.

Taylor’s Version albums

After the master recordings to her first six studio albums were sold in 2019, Swift decided to rerecord her old music to regain artistic and financial control of her catalog. So far, she has released four of six: Fearless (Taylor’s Version) in April 2021, Red (Taylor’s Version) in November 2021,  Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) in July 2023, and  1989 (Taylor’s Version) in October 2023 . Each included previously unreleased songs labeled as “From The Vault,” some of which she recorded with fellow musicians Keith Urban , Ed Sheeran , Chris Stapleton , and Phoebe Bridgers, among others. 

Swift hasn’t shared when she will rerelease Taylor Swift and reputation .

When she was 26, Swift was the highest-paid musician—and celebrity of any industry—of 2016 per Forbes , earning $170 million. It was one successful year among many, allowing the pop star to amass a huge net worth.

As of February 5, 2024, Swift has a net worth of $1.1 billion, according to Forbes . Bloomberg first reported that Swift had become a billionaire in late October 2023.

Her wealth has skyrocketed in the past year fueled by the pop star’s highly successful Eras Tour. Pollstar reported in December 2023 that the ongoing tour has earned $1,039,263,762 so far, making Swift the first musician to gross more than $1 billion on a single tour. The trade publication previously estimated the tour brings in $14 million in ticket sales each night.

Swift ranks No. 17 on Pollstar ’s list of highest-grossing touring artists since 1980, having sold nearly $925 million in tickets from her first five tours and other appearances as of July 2022. The only women higher on the list are Madonna , Celine Dion , and Beyoncé .

Contributing to her overall net worth are her real estate holdings. According to Business Insider , her properties total $84 million. She also has lucrative endorsement deals with Capitol One, Stella McCartney, Diet Coke, Apple, and more.

Over the years, the musician has shared some of her fortune to help others. For example, in 2013, she funded the $4 million Taylor Swift Education Center at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. The facility opened with three classrooms, a learning lab, and a space dedicated to exhibits for children. In an interview with CMT Hot 20 Countdown , she explained that “music education is really such an important part of my life. My life changed so completely when I discovered writing my own songs and playing guitar, and that can’t necessarily all be taught to you in school because there aren’t enough hours in the day.”

The megastar has been involved in a few legal disputes, which all have gone in her favor. In August 2017, she testified in a trial against David Mueller, a former radio DJ she accused of groping her four years earlier. Mueller denied Swift’s allegations and said the incident cost him his job, which led him to sue Swift, her mother, and a radio station employee in 2015. Swift countersued him for alleged assault and battery, and a jury ruled in her favor in 2017, awarding her $1 in damages as a symbolic gesture.

Swift responded to the verdict in a statement: “I acknowledge the privilege that I benefit from in life, in society, and in my ability to shoulder the enormous cost of defending myself in a trial like this. My hope is to help those whose voices should also be heard. Therefore, I will be making donations in the near future to multiple organizations that help sexual assault victims defend themselves.”

Also in 2017, Swift was on the receiving end of a lawsuit, when two songwriters claimed that she stole the chorus of their song “Playas Gon’ Play” for her hit “Shake It Off.” Although a judge dismissed the case in early 2018, on the grounds that the “allegedly infringed lyrics are short phrases that lack the modicum of originality and creativity required for copyright protection,” an appeals court revived the suit in October 2019. Shortly before the trial was scheduled to begin, a judge dismissed the case in December 2022 at the request of both parties. A few media outlets reported there was a settlement, but if so, the terms weren’t publicly released.

The musician was ensnared in another copyright lawsuit when a Mississippi woman claimed “a number of creative elements” from her self-published poetry book appeared in Swift’s companion book for her Lover (2019) album. The author sued in August 2022 but voluntarily dropped her case the next July.

In November 2018, Swift signed with Universal Music Group’s Republic Records. The deal granted the musician ownership of her master recordings, something she didn’t have in her agreement with her first label, Big Machine Records.

The next June, Swift revealed her dismay that Big Machine sold her catalog of music from her first six albums, up to reputation , to a company owned by Scooter Braun , manager of artists like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande and a person she accused of bullying tactics. “Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy,” she wrote on Tumblr . “Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.” Just before the August 2019 release of Lover , Swift confirmed she would rerecord her old music to regain artistic and financial control of her catalog.

Swift’s catalog was sold once again, in October 2020, to Shamrock Holdings for around $300 million. In a lengthy post on Twitter (now called X), Swift gave her fans an update:

“As you know, for the past year I’ve been actively trying to regain ownership of my master recordings. With that goal in mind, my team attempted to enter into negotiations with Scooter Braun.

“Scooter’s team wanted me to sign an ironclad NDA stating I would never say another word about Scooter Braun unless it was positive, before we could even look at the financial records of BMLG... I would have to sign a document that would silence me forever before I could even have a chance to bid on my own work. My legal team said that this is absolutely NOT normal, and they’ve never seen an NDA like this presented unless it was to silence an assault accuser by paying them off. He would never even quote my team a price. These master recordings were not for sale to me.”

Swift added the deal still allows Braun to profit from her music and that she was in the process of rerecording her old music.

Her first rerecorded release, “Love Story (Taylor’s Version),” came at midnight on February 12, 2021. So far, she has reissued four of six albums from her early catalog.

Currently, Swift is dating NFL football player Travis Kelce . On a July 2023 episode of his New Heights podcast , Kelce explained how he tried to give Swift his number on a friendship bracelet after attending the Eras Tour in Kansas City. Soon after, Swift reached out, and they went public with their romance in the fall. “Obviously, I’ve never dated anyone with that kind of aura about them... I’ve never dealt with it,” Kelce told The Wall Street Journal . “But at the same time, I’m not running away from any of it.”

Swift has attended 12 of his NFL games in the 2023 season and postseason. “By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple,” she told Time .“ I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date.”

Kelce returned the support in mid-November 2023, traveling to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to attend one of her concerts on the Eras Tour. During the show, Swift changed one of her lyrics in the song “Karma” to reference Kelce, and the couple were caught kissing on camera for the first time .

Over the years, Swift has dated several celebrities. During much of 2008, reports circulated that she was dating musician Joe Jonas of The Jonas Brothers. The song, “Forever & Always,” is reportedly about Jonas. The next year, Swift briefly dated actor Taylor Lautner , who she met while they filmed the 2010 movie Valentine’s Day . Swift then dated fellow singer-songwriter John Mayer for a brief period beginning in late 2009; he’s thought to be the inspiration for her song “Dear John.”

From there, Swift was romantically linked to actors Cory Monteith and Jake Gyllenhaal in 2010, then Conor Kennedy—son of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. —in 2012. She celebrated the new year with One Direction’s Harry Styles in 2013, but the relationship ended later that year. In 2015, Swift dated DJ and music producer Calvin Harris, though the couple reportedly broke up in June 2016. Shortly thereafter, the pop star began dating actor Tom Hiddleston , but the couple split three months later.

Swift’s longest relationship to date was with actor Joe Alwyn. The pair met at the 2016 Met Gala and were together from 2017 until spring 2023. Beyond being another boyfriend to spark her songwriting, Alwyn also helped write songs on her folklore , evermore , and Midnights albums under the pseudonym William Bowery.

Just prior to the rumors about her and Kelce, Swift was said to be dating musician Matty Healy of The 1975 band.

Beyond her romantic relationships, Swift has had many high-profile friendships—with singer and actor Selena Gomez , model Karlie Kloss , and actor Blake Lively , to name a few—as well as headline-making feuds. Chief among those is her beef with rapper Kanye West .

In 2009, when Swift won the MTV Video Music Award’s Best Female Video for “You Belong With Me,” West leaded to the stage as the young singer was giving her acceptance speech. He took the mic and famously declared, “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!”

The stunned Swift was unable to finish her acceptance speech, and West was removed from the show. When Beyoncé accepted her award for Best Video of the Year later in the night, she called Swift to the stage to finish her speech. West later apologized to Swift privately and made a public apology on The Jay Leno Show .

In early 2016, West released his song “Famous” that includes a lyric taking credit for her fame and calling her a derogatory word. The rapper said Swift had approved the line in a phone call, though her team initially denied the conversation. Days later, Swift said in a Grammys acceptance speech:

“I wanna say to all the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame. But if you just focus on the work, and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you’re going, you’ll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who loved you who put you there. And that will be the greatest feeling in the world.”

Kim Kardashian , who was married to West at the time, defended her husband in a GQ interview that summer and released clips of the phone call between the musicians. Although edited, the recordings proved Swift’s PR team had been lying in their initial statement. Kardashian also implied Swift was a snake in a July 2016 social media post . The pop star alluded to the fight in the songs “Look What You Made Me Do” and “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” from her reputation (2017) album. She has also used snakes in music videos and onstage in concerts. The feud briefly reignited in March 2020 when a 25-minute video of the phone conversation leaked online.

Previously having released several concert movies, Swift made a bigger splash with her Netflix documentary Miss Americana . The January 2020 release covered the makings of her recent studio albums as well as other high-profile events like her sexual assault trial. Miss Americana earned a limited run in theaters simultaneously to its streaming release.

Swift’s new concert movie, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour , capitalizes on her massive star power. The film opened exclusively in theaters—3,850 locations in North America alone—in October 2023. According to Comscore, no other concert movie has enjoyed as wide of a release . It also has showtimes in some 90 other countries and has grossed more than $261 million worldwide as of February 5, 2024, making it the highest-grossing concert film of all time . An extended version, with three additional songs, is now available to rent on streaming services.

Swift has also dabbled in acting. She appeared in the 2010 blockbuster Valentine’s Day, alongside Julia Roberts , Jamie Foxx , Jessica Biel , Bradley Cooper , and other Hollywood heavyweights. A voice role in The Lorax (2012) and another role in The Giver (2014) followed. In December 2019, Swift was featured in a live-action adaptation of the famed Broadway musical Cats , along with Jennifer Hudson , James Corden , and Rebel Wilson . She also teamed with Cats creator Andrew Lloyd Webber to write a song, “Beautiful Ghosts,” for the movie. Swift also had a cameo in 2022’s Amsterdam .

• I have this really high priority on happiness and finding something to be happy about.
• Just be yourself. There is no one better.
• I’m not fast at running. I’m not fast at any kind of force. I’m fast at trivia games.
• The words you regret most are often the ones unsaid.
• I have to believe in fairytales, and I have to believe in love.
• Never believe anyone who says you don’t deserve what you want.
• Life isn’t about how to survive the storm. It’s about how to dance in the rain.
• You’re lucky enough to be different. Never change.
• I’ve learned when to get out. I’ve never wasted too much time with the wrong person, and that’s one thing I’m proud of.
• People haven’t always been there for me, but music has.
• To me, feminism is probably the most important movement that you could embrace, because it’s just basically another word for equality.

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LIFE AND CAREER

    Taylor Alison Swift is a singer-songwriter born on December 13, 1989, in West Reading, Pennsylvania. Her father, Scott Swift, is a stockbroker; her mother, Andrea Swift, is a homemaker who previously worked as a fund marketing executive; and her brother, Austin, is an actor. Swift spent her early years on a Christmas tree farm with her parents.    At age 9, Swift started taking vocal and acting lessons in New York City and later decided to shift her focus toward country music, inspired by Shania Twain and Faith Hill.    When the rising star was around 12 years old, a computer repairman named Ronnie Cremer taught her to play guitar and helped with her first efforts as a songwriter, leading Taylor to write "Lucky You", her first song ever.     In 2003, with the help of a family friend manager, she modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch and had an original song included on the show's compilation CD. With it, came the opportunity to attend meetings with major record labels.     To help Taylor's break into country music, her father transferred his job to an office in Nashville when she was 14, and the family relocated to a lakefront house in Hendersonville, Tennessee, where Taylor attended high school. Two years later, she transferred to Aaron Academy to better accommodate her touring schedule through homeschooling. She graduated high school a year early because of that.

Career Beginnings

  In Nashville, Taylor started working with songwriter Liz Rose during two-hour writing sessions every Tuesday afternoon after school. Later, she became the youngest artist signed by Sony/ATV publishing house, but left the group at age 14. She believed she was running out of time because she wanted to capture the early years of her life on an album while it still represented what she was going through.     At a showcase in Nashville's Bluebird Cafe in 2005, Swift caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, a record executive who was preparing to form an independent record label, Big Machine Records. She became one of Big Machine's first signings, with her father purchasing a three percent share of the company.     Taylor then started working on her debut album and persuaded Big Machine to hire Nathan Chapman to produce her songs. Her first lead single “Tim McGraw” was released in June 2006, and Taylor Swift’s self titled album was released later that year, on October 24, 2006. It peaked at number 5 on the US Billboard 200, where it spent 275 weeks. Swift was also the opening act for Brad Paisley’s 2007 tour to promote her album and spent 2006 and 2007 doing promotion on radios, television, and being the opening act for country artists in the US. Throughout 2007 and 2008, Taylor released four more singles from her debut album and all of them appeared on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.    Swift released her first two EPs "The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection" and "Beautiful Eyes" in October 2007 and July 2008, respectively, winning accolades for all of her first three projects.     She became the youngest person to be honored with the BMI Songwriter of the Year title in 2007. She won awards at the CMAs, ACMs and AMAs while also securing a nomination for Best New Artist at the 50th Grammy Awards.

  Swift's sophomore album, Fearless, was released on November 11, 2008. Five singles were released throughout 2008 and 2009, with "Love Story", the lead single, peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100  chart and number 1 in Australia. The second single, "You Belong With Me", peaked at number 2 in the US. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and was the top selling album of 2009 in the US.     The Fearless Tour – Swift's first headlining concert tour – grossed over $63 million, with Taylor releasing a documentary of the tour that was aired on television and released on DVD. Throughout 2009 and 2010, Swift won multiple awards with her LP at prestigious award shows such as the CMAs and the ACMs, including Artist of the Year at the AMAs and her first Album of the Year statue at the 52nd Grammys, where Swift also bagged another 3 wins. She was named 'Female Artist of the Year' by Billboard back in 2009 as well.     Taylor also co-wrote songs with artists such as John Mayer, Boys Like Girls, and Kellie Pickler, and wrote 2 tracks for Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana – "Crazier" and "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" – which were featured on the movie’s soundtrack.     During Fearless era, Taylor also wrote “Today Was A Fairytale” for the Valentine's Day movie Soundtrack, which peaked at number 2 in the US.

   In August 2010, Swift released "Mine”, the lead single from her third studio album, Speak Now. It debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart at number three. Following criticism claiming Taylor’s songwriting was good because she worked with co-writers, Swift wrote all 17 tracks on her third record by herself as well as co-produced every song.     The album was released on October 25, 2010, debuting at number 1 on Billboard 200, with 1 million copies sold in its first week.     At the 54th Grammy Awards, in 2012, Swift won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance for "Mean", which she performed during the ceremony in response to her much criticized 2010 Grammy performance, serving as a testament to her abilities as a musician.    Swift won several awards for Speak Now, including Songwriter of the Year at the BMI Awards, Entertainer of the Year at the ACMs and CMAs, and was named Billboard’s Woman of the Year. The album also received general acclaim from critics, with Rolling Stone praising Taylor abilities as a rockstar.     The Speak Now World Tour was done between 2011 and 2012, grossing over $123 million. In November 2011, she released a live album, the “Speak Now World Tour Live".     Swift also contributed to The Hunger Games soundtrack with two original songs: “Eyes Open” and “Safe & Sound”, recorded with The Civil Wars. The latter went on to win a Grammy award as well as a Golden Globe nomination. Taylor was featured on BoB's single "Both of Us”, released in May 2012. 

   In August 2012, Swift released "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", the lead single from her fourth studio album, RED. It became her first number one in the US and New Zealand, and reached the top spot on iTunes digital song sales chart only 50 minutes after its release. Her third single, "I Knew You Were Trouble”, peaked in the top 5 of the most important music market countries in the world, reaching the 2nd position on Billboard Hot 100.     RED was released on October 22, 2012. For this project, Taylor worked with new producers and songwriters, such as Max Martin and Shellback – who would become two of Taylor’s biggest collaborators in the future – as well as Nathan Chapman and Liz Rose, with whom she’d been working since her earlier days. The album incorporates new genres for Swift, like heartland rock, dubstep and dance pop influences.     RED debuted at number 1 in the US, with a first week sale of 1.2 million copies, and was Swift's first number 1 album in the UK. The Red Tour ran from March 2013 to June 2014 and grossed over $150 million, becoming the highest grossing country tour when it wrapped.     Red earned Swift several accolades, including 4 Grammy nominations, a VMA trophy, multiple AMA statues and a BMI award for Songwriter of the Year. Taylor was also honored by the Country Music Academy with the Pinnacle Award.     In 2013, Taylor recorded "Sweeter than Fiction" for the One Chance movie soundtrack. It became her first project with producer Jack Antonoff, who she would continue to work with in the future. Taylor also collaborated with Tim McGraw and Keith Urban in one of the most successful country songs of that year, “Highway Don’t Care”.  

    In March of 2014, Taylor moved to New York City while she worked on her fifth studio album, 1989, which would become her most successful and longest-charting record. Influenced by 1980s synth-pop, Swift severed ties with the country sound of her previous albums, and marketed 1989 as her "first documented, official pop album". The album was released on October 27, 2014 and sold 1.28 million copies in the US during the first week of release, debuting at the top of Billboard 200 chart.    Three of its singles – “Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood”, featuring rapper Kendrick Lamar – reached number one in Australia, Canada, and in the US.     The 1989 World Tour ran from May to December 2015 and was the highest-grossing tour of the year, with $250 million in total revenue.     During this era, Taylor went up against two of the biggest steaming services in the world, Spotify and Apple Music, in an effort to oppose the way these companies payed artists. In November 2014, Swift removed her entire catalog from Spotify, arguing that the streaming company’s ad-supported free service undermined the premium service, which provides higher royalties for songwriters. In June of 2015, Taylor wrote an open letter criticizing Apple Music for not offering royalties to artists during the streaming service's three-month free trial period. The following day, Apple announced that it would pay artists during the free trial period.     Swift was named Billboard's Woman of the Year in 2014, and at the 2014 American Music Awards, she received the inaugural Dick Clark Award for Excellence. During this era, Swift also won a BRIT, several VMAs, and multiple other accolades which solidified the 1989 era as the most awarded pop era of all time.     At the 58th Grammy Awards in 2016, 1989 won in 3 categories, including Album of the Year. Swift became the first woman and fifth act overall to win Album of the Year twice as a lead artist.     Swift co-wrote "This Is What You Came For" with Calvin Harris in 2016, and early in 2017, she collaborated with Zayn Malik on “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever”, for the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack. The song reached number two in the US and won Best Collaboration at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards.    "Better Man”, a song Taylor had written during Red era, was released on Little Big Town's seventh album, The Breaker, and earned Swift an award for Song of the Year at the 51st CMA Awards in 2017.

   After disappearing from social media and the public eye during most of 2016, Swift executed one of the most successful comebacks in history with her sixth studio album, reputation. “Look What You Made Me Do” was released as the albums’s lead single and its music video broke the record for the most views in the first 24 hours of release.    The album was released on November 10, 2017 and incorporated a heavy electropop sound, with hip hop, R&B and EDM influences. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 1.21 million copies. With this achievement, Swift became the first act to have four albums sell one million copies within one week in the US. The project spawned three other international singles, including the US top-five entry "...Ready for It?".     In support of reputation, she embarked on her reputation Stadium Tour, which ran from May to November 2018. In the US, the tour grossed $266.1 million in box office and sold over two million tickets, breaking Swift's own record for the highest-grossing US tour by a woman, which was previously held by her 1989 World Tour ($181.5 million). It also became the highest-grossing North American concert tour in history. Worldwide, the tour grossed $345.7 million. On December 31st, Swift released the reputation Stadium Tour concert film on Netflix.     Reputation was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 61st Grammy Awards in 2019. At the 2018 AMAs, Swift won four awards, including Artist of the Year and Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist. After the 2018 ceremony, Swift garnered a total of 23 awards, becoming the most awarded female musician in AMA history.

    In November 2018, Taylor signed a new multi-album deal with Universal Music Group and her subsequent releases would be promoted under the Republic Records imprint. The contract included a provision for her to maintain ownership of her masters recordings. Her seventh album would become the first studio album owned by Swift.    Lover was released on August 23, 2019 and became Taylor’s sixth consecutive album to sell over 500,000 copies in its first week in the US, making Swift the first female artist to achieve this. All 18 songs from the album charted on the Billboard Hot 100 in the same week, setting a record for the most simultaneous entries by a woman. Lover was the world's best-selling solo studio album of 2019, selling 3.2 million copies.     The album earned multiple accolades, including 3 nominations at the Grammys, 3 VMAs and 6 AMAs. Swift also became the first female artist to win Artist of the Decade at the American Music Awards.    Taylor starred as Bombalurina in the movie adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, Cats. She co-wrote and recorded an original song for the movie called "Beautiful Ghosts”, which would earn her another Golden Globe nod & a Grammy nomination at the 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards.    The documentary 'Miss Americana', which chronicles part of her life and career over the years, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was released on Netflix in January 2020. Miss Americana features the original song "Only the Young", which Swift wrote after the 2018 United States presidential elections.     During promotion for Lover in 2019, Swift became embroiled in a publicized dispute with manager Scooter Braun and her former label Big Machine regarding the acquisition of the masters of her back catalog. She stated she had been trying to buy the masters for years, but Big Machine only allowed her to do so if she exchanged a new album for an older one under another contract, which she chose not to sign. In October 2019, Swift's masters, videos and artworks were sold to Shamrock Holdings for a reported $300 million. Swift began re-recording her back catalog in November 2020 in an effort to own and be in control of her music and life’s work.

folklore, evermore and re-recordings

     On July 23, 2020, Swift surprise-announced she would be releasing her eighth studio album, folklore, at midnight. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and became the year's longest-running no. 1, with 8 non-consecutive weeks at the top of the chart. The album’s lead single “cardigan” also debuted at #1.     Made in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, folklore was the result of a collaboration with long-time musical partner Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner, from The National, with whom Taylor had never worked before, and Bon Iver who are featured in one of the album’s tracks.    In November 2020, Swift released the self-directed “folklore: the long pond studio sessions” on Disney+, a documentary in which Taylor, Aaron and Jack perform all the songs from the record while discussing the meanings and inspirations behind the album.    Folklore earned Swift 5 nominations at the Grammys, including Album and Song of the Year. Taylor won the Album of the Year statue, becoming the first woman to win the Grammy’s highest honor three times.    On December 10, 2020, Swift once again surprised her fans with the announcement of her ninth studio album and folklore’s sister record, evermore. The album was released on the 11th and continued Taylor’s collaborations with Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff and Bon Iver, as well as incorporated new artists into the “folkmore universe”, such as HAIM and The National. Both evermore and its lead single “willow” debuted atop of the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts. Having both sister albums achieve this feature, Swift became the first artist to debut at the top of both the singles and albums charts simultaneously twice.    Folklore and Evermore embrace an indie folk and alternative rock production, a departure from Swift’s previous upbeat pop releases. Both albums sold over one million units worldwide in its first week and folklore broke the record for first-day album streams by a female artist on Spotify.     Taylor began working on the re-recordings of her first 6 studio albums in November of last year. The first release from this effort to own her catalog was the re-recording of her sophomore album Fearless, now Fearless (Taylor’s Version). It was released on April 9, 2021 and included 6 never before heard songs that didn’t make it into the album originally, besides the 20 tracks that had already been released in 2008 and 2009. Fearless (Taylor’s Version) debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 200, becoming Swift’s 9th consecutive album and the first re-recorded album in history to do so.     Taylor announced she will be releasing the re-recording of her 4th studio album, RED, on November 19, 2021.

Taylor Swift

• Born December 13 , 1989 · Reading, Pennsylvania, USA
• Birth name Taylor Alison Swift
• Dr Taylor Alison Swift
• Height 5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
• Taylor Alison Swift is a multi-Grammy award-winning American singer/songwriter who, in 2010 at the age of 20, became the youngest artist in history to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In 2011 Swift was named Billboard's Woman of the Year. She also has been named the American Music Awards Artist of the Year, as well as the Entertainer of the Year for both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, among many other accolades. As of this writing, she is also the top-selling digital artist in music history. Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania, to Andrea (Finlay), a one-time marketing executive, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a financial adviser. Her ancestry includes German and English, as well as some Scottish, Irish, Welsh and 1/16th Italian. She was named after James Taylor , and her mother believed that if she had a gender neutral name it would help her forge a business career. Taylor spent most of her childhood on an 11-acre Christmas tree farm in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. When she was nine years old the family moved to Wyomissing, PA, where she attended West Reading Elementary Center and Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School. Taylor spent her summers at her parents' vacation home at the Jersey shore. Her first hobby was English horse riding. Her mother put her in a saddle when she was nine months old and Swift later competed in horse shows. At the age of nine she turned her attention to musical theatre and performed in Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions of "Grease", "Annie", "Bye Bye Birdie" and "The Sound of Music". She traveled regularly to New York City for vocal and acting lessons. However, after a few years of auditioning in New York and not getting anything, she became interested in country music. At age 11, after many attempts, Taylor won a local talent competition by singing a rendition of LeAnn Rimes ' "Big Deal", and was given the opportunity to appear as the opening act for Charlie Daniels at a Strausstown amphitheater. This interest in country music isolated Swift from her middle school peers. At age 12 she was shown by a computer repairman how to play three chords on a guitar, inspiring her to write her first song, "Lucky You". She had previously won a national poetry contest with a poem entitled "Monster in My Closet", but now began to focus on songwriting. She moved to Nashville at age 14, having secured an artist development deal with RCA Records. She left RCA Records when she was 15--the label wanted her to record the work of other songwriters and wait until she was 18 to release an album, but she felt ready to launch her career with her own material. At an industry showcase at Nashville's The Bluebird Café in 2005, Swift caught the attention of Scott Borchetta , a Dreamworks Records executive who was preparing to form his own independent record label, Big Machine Records. Taylor was one of the new label's first signings. Taylor released her debut album, "Taylor Swift", in October of 2006 and received generally positive reviews from music critics. The New York Times described it as "a small masterpiece of pop-minded country, both wide-eyed and cynical, held together by Ms. Swift's firm, pleading voice". Her single "Our Song" made her the youngest solo writer and singer of a #1 country song. The album sold 39,000 copies during its first week. In 2008 she released her second studio album, "Fearless". The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released in September 2008 and became the second best-selling country single of all time, peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Four more singles were released throughout 2008 and 2009: "White Horse", "You Belong with Me", "Fifteen" and "Fearless". "You Belong with Me" was the album's highest-charting single, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. It was the top-selling album of 2009 and brought Swift much crossover success. In September 2009 she became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award when "You Belong with Me" was named Best Female Video. Her acceptance speech was interrupted by rapper Ye , who had been involved in a number of other award show incidents. West declared Beyoncé 's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated in the same category, to be "one of the best videos of all time". When Beyoncé later won the award for Video of the Year, she invited Taylor onstage to finish her speech. In November 2009 Taylor Swift became the youngest ever artist, and one of only six women, to be named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association. She released her third studio album in October 2010, "Speak Now", and wrote all the songs herself. She originally intended to call the album "Enchanted" but Scott Borchetta, her record label's CEO, felt the title did not reflect the album's more adult themes. Swift toured throughout 2011 and early 2012 in support of "Speak Now". As part of the 13-month, 111-date world tour, Swift played seven shows in Asia, 12 in Europe, 80 in North America and 12 in Australasia (three dates on the US tour were rescheduled after she fell ill with bronchitis). The stage show was inspired by Broadway musical theatre, with choreographed routines, elaborate set-pieces, pyrotechnics and numerous costume changes. Swift invited many musicians to join her for one-off duets during the North American tour. Appearances were made by James Taylor, Jason Mraz , Shawn Colvin , Johnny Rzeznik , Andy Grammer , Tal Bachman , Justin Bieber , Selena Gomez , Nicki Minaj , Nelly , B.o.B. , Usher , Flo Rida , Tip 'T.I.' Harris , Jon Foreman , Jim Adkins , Hayley Williams , Hot Chelle Rae , Ronnie Dunn , Darius Rucker , Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney . In May 2012 Taylor featured in B.o.B's song "Both of Us". Swift's fourth studio album, "Red", was released on October 22, 2012. She wrote nine of the album's 16 songs alone; the remaining seven were co-written with Max Martin , Liz Rose , Dan Wilson , Ed Sheeran and Gary Lightbody . Nathan Chapman served as the album's lead producer but Jeff Bhasker , Butch Walker , Jacknife Lee , Dann Huff and Shellback (aka Shellback) also produced individual tracks. Chapman has said he encouraged Swift "to branch out and to test herself in other situations". She has described the collaborative process as "an apprenticeship" that taught her to "paint with different colors". "Red" examines Swift's attraction to drama-filled relationships; she believes that, since writing the record, such relationships no longer appeal to her. Musically, while there is some experimentation with "slick, electronic beats", the pop sheen is limited to a handful of tracks sprinkled among more recognizably Swiftian fare. "Rolling Stone" enjoyed "watching Swift find her pony-footing on Great Songwriter Mountain. She often succeeds in joining the Joni/ Carole King tradition of stark-relief emotional mapping . . . Her self-discovery project is one of the best stories in pop." The Guardian described Swift as a "Brünnhilde of a rock star" and characterized "Red" as "another chapter in one of the finest fantasies pop music has ever constructed". "USA Today" felt that the "engaging" record saw Swift "write ever-more convincingly--and wittily and painfully--about the messy emotions of a young twenty something nearing the end of her transition from girl to woman". The "Los Angeles Times" noted the exploration of "more nuanced relationship issues" on "an unapologetically big pop record that opens new sonic vistas for her". As part of the "Red" promotional campaign, representatives from 72 worldwide radio stations were flown to Nashville during release week for individual interviews with Swift. She made television appearances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2003) , Good Morning America (1975) , The View (1997) , Late Show with David Letterman (1993) , ABC News Nightline (1980) and All Access Nashville with Katie Couric (2012) . She performed at Los Angeles' MTV VMAs and London's Teen Awards, and will also perform at Nashville's CMA Awards, Frankfurt's MTV Europe Music Awards, Los Angeles' AMA Awards and Sydney's ARIA Music Awards. Swift offered exclusive album promotions through Target, Papa John's and Walgreens. She became a spokesmodel for Keds sneakers, released her sophomore Elizabeth Arden fragrance and continued her partnerships with Cover Girl, Sony Electronics and American Greetings, as well as her unofficial brand tie-ins with Ralph Lauren and Shellys. The album's lead single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", was released in August 2012. The song became Swift's first #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, recording the highest ever one-week sales figures for a female artist. Two further singles have since been released: "Begin Again" (country radio) and "I Knew You Were Trouble" (pop and international radio).In her career, as of May 2012, Swift has sold over 23 million albums and 54.5 million digital tracks worldwide. Taylor Swift is only beginning to emerge as an acting talent, having voiced the role of Audrey in the animated feature The Lorax (2012) . She also made appearances in the theatrical release Valentine's Day (2010) and in an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000) . She contributed two original songs to The Hunger Games (2012) soundtrack: "Safe & Sound featuring The Civil Wars" and "Eyes Open". Taylor released her fifth album, titled "1989", on October 27, 2014. This album is when she finally made the complete transition from country to pop. She says that she will not be going to any Country Music Award shows. The album is named after the year she was born, and is a sort of '80s-sounding album, in the sense that it's more electronic. In March 2015 she began dating Scottish Disc Jockey Calvin Harris after having met at the Brit Awards in February. They were together for thirteen months. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous and Aman Jaitly (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)
• Children No Children
• Parents Scott Swift Andrea Swift
• Relatives Austin Swift (Sibling)
• Writing songs about her exes
• Frequent use of the number 13
• She often goes barefoot
• Red lipstick
• Literary references in song lyrics
• Named Person of the Year by Time magazine in 2023, becoming the first entertainer to be named as an individual. She was also named among 2017's Persons of the Year, "The Silence Breakers", as people who spoke out against sexual abuse and harassment.
• Has three cats: Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson, and Benjamin Button.
• Was home-schooled around the time she was 14.
• Grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, which would serve as the inspiration for one of her Christmas songs.
• Close friends with actress Blake Lively . Taylor included the names of three of Blake's daughters, James, Betty and Inez in her song, 'Betty'.
• [on the Britney Spears perfume she wore] The coolest girl in school wore Britney Spears' Fantasy, and I had to copy her.
• People haven't always been there for me, but music always has.
• I never want to change so much that people can't recognize me.
• When I was a little girl I used to read fairy tales. In fairy tales you meet Prince Charming and he's everything you ever wanted. In fairy tales the bad guy is very easy to spot. The bad guy is always wearing a black cape so you always know who he is. Then you grow up and you realize that Prince Charming is not as easy to find as you thought. You realize the bad guy is not wearing a black cape and he's not easy to spot; he's really funny, and he makes you laugh, and he has perfect hair.
• There's more to life than dating the boy on the football team.

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Taylor Swift

Chart history, billboard hot 100™, you belong with me, shake it off, cruel summer, latest videos.

Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce Are Busy Ahead of ‘TTPD’ Release, Courtney Love Disses Beyoncé & Lana, Dua Lipa’s Creativity Behind “Illusion” & More | Billboard News

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Taylor Swift Height, Age, Boyfriend, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift in a Party

Childhood Picture of Taylor Swift

Childhood Picture of Taylor Swift Riding on Her Horse

A Childhood Picture of Taylor Swift with Her Grandmother

• At the age of nine, she developed an interest in musical theatre and performed for Berks Youth Theatre Academy Productions. She used to travel regularly to New York for her acting classes from Pennsylvania.
• Later, she got inspired by Shania Twain’s songs and shifted her focus towards country music.
• She used to perform at local festivals and events on weekends.
• She decided to move to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue her music career after watching a documentary on Faith Hill.
• When she was eleven, she submitted a karaoke CD of various songs of Dolly Parton, Dixie Chicks, and LeAnn Rimes at Nashville record labels. In an interview, she shared this incident, she said,

It was on spring break, and I was 11 and I had this little demo CD — a karaoke CD of me singing songs by Dolly Parton and the Dixie Chicks and LeAnn Rimes. And I marched up and down Music Row with these demo CDs, and I’d walk in and hand them to the receptionist while my mom and my little brother were parked outside in a rental car.”

• At the age of 12, she started her training in playing the guitar under a computer repairman and local musician, Ronnie Cremer. With his help, Taylor wrote her first song ‘Lucky You.’
• In 2003, with the help of Dan Dymtrow, Taylor worked as a model for ‘Abercrombie & Fitch’ as part of their “Rising Stars” campaign.
• She performed her original songs at RCA Records and received an artist development deal. Later, Taylor was enrolled in ‘Aron Academy’ while continued her education through home-schooling.
• She later worked with the experienced songwriters like Troy Verges, Brett Beavers, Brett James, Mac McAnally, the Warren Brothers, and Liz Rose. Liz Rose said in an interview,

The sessions were some of the easiest I’ve ever done. Basically, I was just her editor. She’d write about what happened in school that day. She had such a clear vision of what she was trying to say. And she’d come in with the most incredible hooks.”

• Taylor left RCA Records at the age of 14, later, she was signed by the Sony/ATV publishing house.
• In 2005, she was performing at Nashville’s Bluebird Café where she grabbed the attention of Borchetta, a DreamWorks Records executive. At that time, Borchetta was planning to form an independent record label with the name, Big Machine Records. Taylor’s father purchased three per cent shares in Borchetta’s company.
• Taylor started working on her first album and released her first album ‘Taylor Swift’ on 24 October 2006 under the music label, Big Machine Records. The album was a great hit and had sold over 7.75 million copies worldwide.
• Later, she released many other chartbuster songs including, ‘Love Story,’ ‘Tim McGraw’,‘Our Song,’ and ‘Teardrops on My Guitar.’

• She was hired as a brand ambassador by many ace brands including Cover Girl, Sony Electronics, and Diet Coke.
• Interestingly, some of her songs are dedicated to her ex-boyfriends, some of such songs are “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “Style,” “Mine,” and “Back To December.”
• She has also performed live at musical tours like Fearless Tour (2009–2010), Speak Now World Tour (2011–2012), The Red Tour (2013–2014), The 1989 World Tour (2015), Reputation Stadium Tour (2018), and Lover Fest (2020).
• Apart from singing, she is also a social activist. On 21 September 2007, she launched a campaign to protect children from online predators. She has worked for social welfare organisations like PETA, Red Cross, UNICEF, and Cancer Research Institute.

Taylor Swift at the Launch Event of Her Perfume Line

• In an interview with David Letterman, Taylor said that she learns some phrases in the language of every nation she visits.

Taylor Swift Education Centre

• On 24 November 2019, she won six American Music Awards (AMA) including Artist of the Decade Award. She has won a total of 29 AMAs; beating the record of the legendary singer Michael Jackson .

Taylor Swift (on the left) and April Gloria (on the right)

• Taylor was named after another singer-songwriter: James Taylor.
• Taylor swift is well versed in playing various instruments like guitars (acoustic, electric, banjo), piano, and ukulele.
• Swift is one of the youngest songwriters that Sony/ATV Music publishing house has ever signed.
• Taylor has more than 600 nominations under her name.
• Taylor sends gifts to her fans and calls it “Swiftmas.”
• Swift single-handedly brought down the iPhone and MacBook giant Apple for paying her the fair amount of royalties within a day.

Taylor Swift with Her Pet Cat

• She considers ’13’ as her lucky number.

Taylor Swift on the Vogue Magazine’s Cover

• In January 2020, she booked a gym for her workout session and asked everybody to leave the gym including Justin Bieber , who was already working out in the gym when Taylor arrived there.

Taylor Swift wore bangles from the Indian Jewellery brand Misho Designs for the tune Karma

• In February 2024, a baker named Lara Mason from the United Kingdom baked a life-size Taylor Swift cake holding an NFL trophy, which went viral on the internet. It took her 38 hours to bake this red velvet vanilla-flavoured cake.

I made a Lifesize cake of @taylorswift13 in a @Chiefs sweater holding up the @NFL Super Bowl trophy. What do you think?! pic.twitter.com/QQbvNKQC6M — Lara Cakes (@lara_cakes) February 9, 2024

References/Sources: [ + ]

Taylor Swift

Pop and country phenom whose relationship-heavy songwriting and knack for a hook made her a superstar.

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Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift Biography

The actress, singer and also composer of Country music Taylor Alison Swift , was born on December 13, 1989, in the city of Reading (Pennsylvania), daughter of Scott Kingsley Swift and Andrea Gardner Swift. She spent her childhood on a farm where Christmas trees were grown. She attended preschool and elementary school at the Alvernia Montessori School. Taylor and his younger brother were raised as Presbyterians and each summer attended the Bible School on vacation. After she and her family moved to Wyomissing (Pennsylvania), where she began studying at the West Reading Elementary Center and the Wyomissing Junior / Senior High School.

At the age of nine, she became interested in musical theater beginning to perform in productions of the Berks Youth Theater Academy. Normally she traveled to Broadway to receive singing and acting classes.

Taylor was influenced by the Country music with which she participated in festivals, Cafes, Fairs and Karaokes of her locality.

On October 24, 2006, the first studio album “Taylor Swift” was released under the record label Big Machine Records, she wrote her songs for the album during her first year of high school, focusing on romantic themes with country music style and pop. The singles that were derived from her were placed on the most important lists.

On May 15, 2007, at the Academy of Country Music Awards (ACM) she sang “Tim McGraw.”

“Teardrops On My Guitar” her second single, was released on February 24, came second in the country charts and thirty-three in the Billboard Hot 100.

In the month of October, she was awarded the Nashville Composers Association Award for best singer and songwriter. She also recorded a Christmas EP called “Sounds Of The Season” which she released for sale on October 16, and was available exclusively at Target Corporation, achieving the success of her debut album.

On November 7, 2007, released the third single called “Our Song” and was six weeks in the first place of the country lists.

On September 12, 2008, debuted with her first single, the most successful called “Love Story” this song became the first country music. The video of this song was based on Romeo and Juliet.

On November 11, the second studio album called “Fearless” was released in the United States where all the songs were written by her. It was one of the best selling in that country, also was presented with this album at Madison Square Garden and debuted at number one on Billboard 200, was the country music album with the highest sales and the fourth best seller that year.

The second single from Fearless called “White Horse” debuted on December 8, 2008.

In the forty-fourth edition of the Academy of Country Music Awards, Taylor received the “Album of the Year” award for Fearless becoming the youngest artist to receive it.

In January 2009, Taylor Swift spoke about her first tour, during which she visited fifty-two cities in thirty-eight provinces and states. In the United States and Canada, there was a lapse of six months. The tour began on April 23 in Evansville, Indiana.

In the month of June at the CMT Music Awards, she won the best female video of the year and video of the year, for her single “Love Story” this is the most awarded country album in history.

At the beginning of 2010, Taylor made her debut in the film Valentine’s Day with a supporting role for the official soundtrack of the film with a new song called “Today Was a Fairytale.”

On July 20 she announced to her fans in a digital meeting that her third album called “Speak Now” would be released on October 25. Said album consists of 14 songs written by herself, and her first single was “Mine.”

In September of 2010, the first dates of the tour were confirmed, which in February 2011 would cover 18 countries around the world and would end in 2012.

On September 12, 2010, at the celebration of the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards amid controversy over the previous edition, she was nominated in the “Best Female Video of the Year” category.

On March 19, 2011, on her first visit to Spain, she performed at the Sports Palace of the Community of Madrid.

On October 22, 2012, Taylor Swift released her new album called “Red” the first single “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” was released on August 13, achieving with it, her first number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

On September 7, she released her single “Ronan” at the Stand Up To Cancer gala, a song dedicated to a four-year-old boy who died of cancer. That same year she contributed the songs Safe & Sound and Eyes Open for the movie The Hunger Games.

It was awarded at the Kids’ Choice Awards 2012 with the award “The Big Help” (The Big Help), awarded by Michelle Obama for her work in helping the needy in various parts of the world, those affected by tornadoes in the United States, and affected by the rains in Colombia, among others; with his project “Speak Now, Help Now.” On March 13, 2013, she started the Red Tour in 45 different cities. In the month of July, she began writing the songs for her fifth studio album.

On August 18, 2014, Taylor , in an event broadcast live on Yahoo, announced the details of her fifth studio album. Her new musical work called “1989” is a Pop album inspired by the 80s that went on sale on October 27, 2014. Swift released two singles: the first called “Shake It Off” debuted at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100 on August 27 and the second single called “Blank Space” with this theme snatched itself for the first time in history the No. 1 spot.

On August 30, 2015, the singer, at the MTV awards, won the Video of the Year award, with Bad Blood, in addition to the best pop video with Blank Space and the best female video. In August of 2017, Taylor Swift presented the video of Look What You Made Me, the first single from her new album “Reputation” which will be released on November 10.

DISCOGRAPHY

• 2006: Taylor Swift.
• 2008: Fearless.
• 2010: Speak Now.
• 2014: 1989.
• 2017: Reputation.

FILMOGRAPHY

• 2009: Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience.
• 2009: Hannah Montana: The Movie.
• 2010: Valentine’s Day.
• 2012: The Lorax /Voz.
• 2014: The Giver.
• 2009-2010: Fearless Tour.
• 2011-2012: Speak Now World Tour.
• 2013-2014: Red Tour.
• 2015: The 1989 World Tour.
• 2009: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Episode: “Turn, Turn, Turn”
• 2013: New Girl Episode: “Elaine’s Big Day”.
• Son Some: 2007: Country Music Association Awards – Horizon Award
• 2008: American Music Awards – Favorite Female Country Artist (Taylor Swift)
• 2009: American Music Awards-Favorite Country Album (Fearless)
• 2010: Capricho Awards-International Singer (Taylor Swift)
• 2010: Grammy Awards-Album of The Year and Best Country Album (Fearless)
• 2011: Billboard Music Awards-Top Country Artist (Taylor Swift) 2011: Billboard Music Awards-Top Artist Billboard 200 (Taylor Swift)
• 2012: Billboard Music Awards-Woman of the Year (Taylor Swift) 2012: American Music Awards-Favorite Country Album (Speak Now)
• 2013: MTV Video Music Awards-Best Female Video (I Knew You Were Trouble).
• 2015: American Music Awards-Favorite Pop / Rock Album (1989) 2015: Brit Awards-International Female Artist (Taylor Swift)
• 2015: Billboard Music Awards-Top Billboard Album 200 (1989) 2016: Grammy Awards-Best Music Video (Bad Blood)
• 2016: People’s Choice Awards-Favorite Pop Artist (Taylor Swift).
• I am a person who can achieve many things, and I want to be known for the good things I achieve in my life.
• You can not have a better tomorrow if you keep thinking about yesterday.
• I am far, but I will never let you go.
• Life is full of small interruptions.
• We should love, not fall in love. Because everything that falls, breaks.

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Fernando Botero

Fernando Botero Biography

Fernando Botero Angulo (April 19, 1932 – September 15, 2023) was a sculptor, painter, muralist, and draftsman, hailing from Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia. He was a Colombian artist known and celebrated for infusing a substantial volume to human and animal figures in his works.

Early Years and Beginnings

Fernando Botero was born into an affluent Paisa family , composed of his parents, David Botero and Flora Angulo, along with his older brother Juan David, who was four years his senior, and his younger brother, Rodrigo, who would be born four years after Fernando, in the same year that their father passed away. In 1938, he enrolled in primary school at the Ateneo Antioqueño and later entered the Bolivariana to continue his high school education. However, he was expelled from the institution due to an article he published in the newspaper El Colombiano about Picasso , as well as his drawings that were considered obscene. As a result, he graduated from high school at the Liceo of the University of Antioquia in 1950.

In parallel to his studies, Fernando attended a bullfighting school in La Macarena at the request of one of his uncles. However, due to an issue related to bullfighting, Botero left the bullring and embarked on a journey into painting. In 1948, he held his first exhibition in Medellín. Two years later, he traveled to Bogotá where he had two more exhibitions and had the opportunity to meet some intellectuals of the time. He then stayed at Isolina García’s boarding house in Tolú, which he paid for by painting a mural. Once again in Bogotá, he won the second prize at the IX National Artists Salon with his oil painting “Facing the Sea” .

“Ephemeral art is a lesser form of expression that cannot be compared to the concept of art conceived with the desire for perpetuity. What many people fail to understand is that Picasso is a traditional artist”- Fernando Botero

Due to the prize from the IX Salon and the sale of several of his works, Fernando Botero traveled to Spain in 1952 to enroll at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid. There, he lived by selling drawings and paintings in the vicinity of the Prado Museum. In 1953, he went to Paris with filmmaker Ricardo Irrigarri, and later, they both traveled to Florence. Here, he entered the Academy of San Marco, where he was heavily influenced by Renaissance painters such as Piero della Francesca, Titian, and Paolo Uccello.

Career and Personal Life

In 1955, Botero returned to Colombia to hold an exhibition featuring several of his works created during his time in Europe, but it was met with a lukewarm reception from the public.

Woman With a Mirror / Foto:Luis García (Zaqarbal) / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Spain (CC BY-SA 3.0 ES)

In 1956, he married Gloria Zea, with whom he would later have three children: Fernando, Juan Carlos, and Lina. The couple traveled to Mexico City, where Fernando Botero was eager to see the works of Mexican muralists, but this experience left him disillusioned. Consequently, he began searching for his own artistic style, drawing influence from both the Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo and the Colombian artist Alejandro Obregón . In this quest, he started experimenting with volume, initially in still lifes, and gradually extending this approach to other elements.

In 1957, he successfully exhibited in New York, showcasing his new artistic sensibility. The following year, he returned to Bogotá, where he was appointed as a professor at the School of Fine Arts at the National University of Colombia . He presented his work “La Camera Degli Sposi” at the X Colombian Artists Salon , winning the first prize and becoming the country’s most prominent painter. This piece sparked some controversy as it was initially censored for being almost a parody of Andrea Mantegna’s “La Cámara de los Esposos”. However, it was later reinstated in the exhibition on the advice of Marta Traba. Subsequently, Fernando Botero exhibited his works in various spaces in the United States, where a businessman from Chicago purchased “La Camera Degli Sposi” .

“Fernando Botero and his works are the finest ambassadors of our country in this land of navigators and discoverers, of poets and fado singers”- Juan Manuel Santos

In 1960, Botero separated from Gloria Zea and traveled to New York. He led a modest life here as the New York art scene was primarily inclined towards abstract expressionism. Consequently, Botero was influenced by artists like Pollock, which led him to experiment with color, brushwork, and format, to the point of nearly abandoning his distinctive style characterized by the manipulation of volume. Aware of this, Botero returned to his usual style of flat colors and figurative representations.

Starting in 1962, he began a series of exhibitions in both Europe and the United States, as well as in Colombia. By 1970, the year his son Pedro was born to his second wife, Cecilia Zambrano, Fernando Botero had already become the world’s most sought-after sculptor. However, in 1974, his son Pedro tragically died in a traffic accident, leading to his second divorce and leaving significant marks on his artistic endeavors.

In 1978, the Colombian painter married Sophia Vari , a renowned Greek artist with whom he shared a significant part of his life, until sadly, she passed away in May 2023.

Since 1983, Fernando Botero has been exhibiting his works and donating them to various cities around the world. As a result, we can find his pieces in the streets of Medellín, Barcelona, Oviedo, Singapore, and Madrid, among others. In 2008, the Autonomous University of Nuevo León in Mexico conferred upon him an honorary Doctorate.

Renowned Colombian artist, Fernando Botero, died on September 15, 2023 , in Monaco at the age of 91 due to pneumonia . His artistic legacy will endure forever. In his hometown, seven days of mourning were declared.

Pedrito a Caballo, Fernando Botero (1975).

Top 10 Famous works by Fernando Botero

Some of the most recognized works by Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero:

• “Pedrito on Horseback” / “Pedrito a Caballo” (1974): This is an oil painting on canvas measuring 194.5 cm x 150.5 cm. For Botero, this work is his masterpiece and a refuge during a personal tragedy. The child depicted is Pedro, his son from his second marriage, who tragically passed away in an accident when he was young.
• “Mona Lisa at 12 Years Old” / “Mona lisa a los 12 años” (1978): This piece stands out as a unique version of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting, the Mona Lisa . Painted in oil on canvas and measuring 183 cm x 166 cm, Botero incorporates his characteristic style of voluptuous and rounded figures into this work, which has become one of his most distinctive pieces.
• “Woman’s Torso” / “Torso de Mujer” (1986): It is a majestic bronze sculpture that rises to an impressive height of approximately 2.48 meters. It is often affectionately referred to as “La Gorda” (“The Fat One”). This artwork finds its home in Parque de Berrío, located in the captivating city of Medellín.
• “Woman with Mirror” / “Mujer con Espejo” (1987): An imposing bronze sculpture weighing 1000 kg. It is located in Plaza de Colón, in the heart of Madrid, Spain. The artwork captivates the gaze with the portrayal of a woman peacefully lying face down on the ground, holding a mirror in her hands. Her expression reflects deep introspection and enigmatic melancholy.
• “The Orchestra” / “La Orquesta” (1991): In this oil on canvas artwork, measuring 200 cm x 172 cm, Botero presents a band of musicians with a singer, all immersed in a spirit of celebration. The artist aims to convey a sense of harmony and joy through his portrayal.
• “Woman Smoking” / “Mujer Fumando” (1994): It is a creation executed in watercolor, spanning dimensions of 122 cm x 99 cm. In this work, Maestro Botero skillfully captures the essence of a woman elegantly holding a cigarette between her fingers. His meticulous focus on voluptuous forms, posture, and the serene expression of the figure masterfully combine to emphasize the sensuality and profound intimacy of the moment captured in the artwork.
• “Man on Horseback” / “Hombre a Caballo” (1996): This bronze sculpture is one of the most iconic works in the artist’s career. It depicts a rider in a majestic and proud posture. Over the years, this imposing work has been exhibited in multiple cities around the world, solidifying its place as a prominent piece in the sculptor’s body of work.
• “The Horse” / “El Caballo” (1997): This iconic sculpture showcases a horse of majestic presence and a distinctive rounded form, sculpted in bronze and measuring approximately 3 meters in height. This masterpiece reflects Botero’s profound passion for horses while also serving as a powerful representation of the mythical Trojan Horse.
• “The Death of Pablo Escobar” / “La muerte de Pablo Escobar” (1999): This artwork, created using the oil on canvas technique, has dimensions of 58 cm x 38 cm. While not considered a masterpiece, this artistic piece represents one of the most significant moments in Colombia’s history. Fernando Botero captures, in his distinctive style, the moment of the death of the drug lord Pablo Escobar , addressing issues related to violence and criminality that have marked the country’s history. An interesting detail is that, although Pablo Escobar admired Fernando Botero’s art, it cannot be said that the admiration was mutual. The painter created two works depicting the death of the drug trafficker.
• “Boterosutra Series” / “Serie Boterosutra” (2011): This work by Botero is part of an erotic art collection called Boterosutra , marking a milestone in the history of Colombian art as the first artistic representation of sexual intimacy between lovers. This series comprises around 70 small-sized pieces created using various techniques, including colored drawings, watercolors, brushstrokes, and also black and white, all of which constitute one of the most contemporary works by the painter.

Ryan Reynolds

Biography of Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Rodney Reynolds was born on October 23, 1976 in Vancouver, Canada, and he is a well-known actor. When Ryan was born, his mother, Tammy, was a student and a salesperson, while his father, Jim, worked in wholesale food sales and also excelled as a semi-professional boxer. In addition, Ryan has three older siblings.

He studied in his hometown of Vancouver until 1994 when he decided to join a theater group as an extracurricular activity while attending Kwantlen College. However, his passion for acting became a vocation, and Ryan dropped out of college to devote all his time and energy to his acting career.

Debut as an actor

He quickly landed small roles in successful and memorable TV series such as “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and “The X-Files”. In 1998, his big break came with the series “Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place”, which ran until 2001 and catapulted him to fame. The show became very popular thanks to its great comedic content, an area where Reynolds demonstrated perfect skill, but this was not the first time that Ryan had made a name for himself in a Hollywood comedy, as he had already been in “Life During Wartime” in 1997.

After working in several minor jobs, Ryan got his first major role as a protagonist in the crazy “Van Wilder – Animal Party”, where he played a college party organizer. The success of the film opened doors for him to work alongside Michael Douglas in “Till Death Do Us Part”, support Wesley Snipes in “Blade Trinity” or star in the horror movie “The Amityville Horror”. However, at this stage of his career, Ryan stood out mainly as a protagonist in comedies such as “Just Friends”, “Waiting” and “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle”. This led him to want to leave his comedic side behind, getting involved in different projects such as the thriller “Smokin’ Aces”, the independent film “Adventureland” and the action film “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”. Later on, he also participated in romantic films such as “The Proposal” and “Definitely, Maybe”. However, recognition of his acting ability did not come until Ryan was nominated for a Goya Award for his demanding role in “Buried”. It is worth noting that he also brought to life the comic book hero “Green Lantern” and the renowned “Deadpool”.

Contracts, curiosities

Prestigious brands like Hugo Boss have not been oblivious to Ryan Reynolds’ popularity, charisma, and good looks, offering him contracts to be the face of one of their fragrances : Boss Bottled Night, a fragrance that, through great advertising, managed to convey an irresistible seductive effect.

Two curiosities can be highlighted from his work: first, the nearly 10 kilos of solid muscle he gained thanks to rigorous physical training to bring Hannibal King to life in “Blade: Trinity”; and second, his appearance on the animated TV series Zeroman, in which he lent his voice to the character Ty Cheese. In addition, like many Hollywood stars, Ryan Reynolds has an eccentricity outside the world of entertainment: a great passion for motorcycles , of which he owns three collector’s items, one of which was designed exclusively for him and is none other than a Harley Davidson.

Romantic relationships

Regarding his personal life, Ryan Reynolds was in a romantic relationship with singer Alanis Morissette from 2002 to 2007. The couple got engaged in 2004, but in July 2006, People magazine reported that they had separated, although neither of them officially confirmed the news. Shortly after, in February 2007, they decided to end their engagement by mutual agreement. In May 2008, Reynolds announced his engagement to actress Scarlett Johansson , and they got married on September 27 of the same year. However, in December 2010, the couple announced in a statement to People magazine that they had decided to end their marriage.

So, on September 9, 2012, he married the actress Blake Lively in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. In October 2014, they announced that they were expecting their first child, and in December of that same year, Ryan Reynolds and his wife Blake Lively became parents with the birth of their daughter: Ines. Later, on April 14, 2016, his wife’s second pregnancy was confirmed, and on September 30, 2016, he became a father for the second time to a boy named James.

Biography of Tom Hanks

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks, born July 9, 1956 in Concord, California, United States, is an actor known as Tom Hanks. Hanks was raised by his father Amos Mefford Hanks, who worked as a cook of English food, and his mother Janet Marylyn, a nurse. He was raised with the values of the Catholic and Mormon religion. During his time at Skyline High School in Oakland, he attended theater classes with his best friend. During his adolescence, Hanks demonstrated his acting talent and won the Best Theater Actor award at his institute. Later, he enrolled in Chabot College in Hayward, California and two years later did a exchange at California State University, Sacramento.

1981 – Debut as an actor

In 1979, the Hanks family moved to New York, which gave Tom the opportunity to debut as a supporting actor in the horror film “Sabe que estás sola” in 1981. Two years later, he landed a lead role in another film. Additionally, he did his first television work in the comedy series “Bosom Buddies.” Later, he decided to move to Los Angeles to participate in “Despedida de soltero” in 1984, although the film was not very successful, it allowed him to be discovered by Ron Howard, who later contacted him to offer a role in “Splash” in 1984.

Since then, Tom starred in several comedy films such as “Amigos del alma” (1980), “Esta casa es una ruina” (1986), “Big” (1988), “No matarás… al vecino” (1989), “Socios y sabuesos” (1989), and “Joe contra el volcán” (1990). His father was always very important in his career, constantly encouraging him to keep fighting for his dream. On several occasions, he helped him to get small roles. He also supported his participation in the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. Tom had already made some appearances in series like “Vacaciones en el mar”, “Happy Days”, “Taxi”, or “Family Ties”.

“The King of Comedy”

After a small role in the horror film “He Knows You’re Alone” (1980) directed by Armand Mastroianni, he starred in several comedies that typecast him in comedic roles. His charming personality and natural talent contributed to his growing popularity. Definitely his consecration came in the eighties, he was cataloged as the king of comedy . Thanks to “Big” (1988), he achieved great success for his performance, receiving the Los Angeles Critics Award and an Oscar nomination . Although he had a bit of a downfall after that, he regained momentum as a disillusioned former baseball pitcher who trains a women’s team in “A League of Their Own” (1992).

Tom considered it appropriate to change direction and tackle other stories, to move away from comedy a little. So, he eagerly sought more intense themes where he could showcase his versatility. With his work in “The Bonfire of the Vanities” (1989), directed by Brian de Palma, he attempted to take the first step to break away from light comedies, but the result was not as expected. However, his career took off again with his portrayal of an AIDS-stricken lawyer in “Philadelphia” (1992), directed by Jonathan Demme, an intense character that was quite a challenge. His effort was rewarded with an Oscar. He renewed his commercial success with “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993), directed by Nora Ephron, where he teamed up with Meg Ryan, and worked with her again in “You’ve Got Mail” (1998).

Some of his most acclaimed performances

In the mid-90s, Hanks established himself as one of Hollywood’s brightest stars. It’s worth mentioning that his career enjoyed significant success. For his role in Robert Zemeckis’ “ Forrest Gump ” (1994), this has been one of the most striking films of the decade, he was again deserving of an Oscar , a prize that increased, turning him into one of the best-paid actors in Hollywood. With the comedy “The Wonders” (1996), he made his directorial debut.

Later, he did the same in the field of production with the TV series “From the Earth to the Moon,” a work that took him several years. Hanks had the lead role in the feature film “Saving Private Ryan” (1997), directed by Steven Spielberg , with this role he was nominated for the Academy Award, although the film received five Oscars. In 2000, he worked with Robert Zemeckis again in the film “Cast Away,” a film in which his solo performance was praised, for which he received an Oscar nomination.

Between 2003 and 2004, he repeated his collaboration with Spielberg in “Catch Me If You Can” and also in “The Terminal.” In 2006, he starred in the hit film “The Da Vinci Code,” the cinematic version of Dan Brown’s controversial work. Starting in 2014, Hanks’ films have grossed over 4.2 billion in countries such as the United States and Canada, and over 8.4 billion in the rest of the world, he is definitely an actor who ensures great success for films. His fame is such that the asteroid (12818) Tomhanks bears his name.

Marriages, children.

The actor has had several marriages throughout his life. His first marriage was to Samantha Lewes in 1978, from which two children were born: Colin Hanks in 1977 and Elisabeth Ann in 1982. However, the couple divorced in 1985. Later, in 1988, he married actress and producer Rita Wilson , with whom he had two additional children: Chester Marlon in 1991 and Truman Theodore in 1996. In recent years, the actor has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, which requires a strict diet and daily care to maintain his health.

Marc Anthony

Biography of Marc Anthony

Marc Anthony (born September 16, 1968) is an American salsa singer and actor , born in New York. His real name is Marco Antonio Muñiz Rivera . From a young age, he has been involved in music, growing up with rock and rhythm & blues. His parents, Felipe Muñiz and Guillermina Rivera, discovered his passion and musical ability when he was a child. During his teenage years, to earn money, he began singing at bars and nightclubs , and quickly gained popularity. He was contacted by one of the members of the Latin Rascals group, and their producer Louie Vega invited him to record several albums with the Atlantic Records label.

Beginnings as a singer

One of Marc Anthony’s most successful musical products was the album “Rebel”, which achieved some success on the disco music charts. In 1992, his career in the salsa world took off when the famous Tito Puente took him as an opening act for a concert at Madison Square Garden. A year later, he recorded a salsa version of a song by Juan Gabriel that received excellent reviews and great popularity in the musical circles of New York. Soon, Marc Anthony appeared in several television productions and began to receive offers for concerts. After a few years, he was recognized as the new “king of salsa”. During the 1990s, his lyrics occupied the top position in Latin America and also in the United States.

The new “musical phenomenon”

Marc Anthony became a massively successful musical phenomenon , comparable to the success of Héctor Lavoe. At the same time, he continued to develop his acting career, appearing in films such as “Bringing out the Dead” directed by Martin Scorsese; “Big Night” directed by Stanley Tucci; “Hackers,” and “The Capeman,” a Broadway musical directed by singer and songwriter Paul Simon. He also performed the main theme of the soundtrack of “The Mask of Zorro” (1998), in which Antonio Banderas was the lead actor.

Third salsa album “Against the Stream”

That same year, he worked on the production of his third salsa album: “Contra la Corriente,” undoubtedly many salsa critics and aficionados affirm that it was the best album of his career, for which he received a Grammy for Best Latin-Tropical Album. In 1999, he released the album “Marc Anthony” to the market, this album undoubtedly demonstrates a new stage in his musical career, as it combined salsa with pop and also featured songs in English, in order to reach and conquer the Anglo-Saxon audience and market.

The first single, “I Need to Know,” put him in the top positions of the North American charts: it remained in the Top 10 of the Billboard for eleven weeks and eight more weeks in the Top 40. He also released the Spanish version, titled “Dímelo.” With this song, he won the Grammy for Best Latin Song of the Year and was number one on the Latin Billboard chart. He quickly released the second single, “You Sang to Me,” repeating the success of the previous one and selling over two million copies of the album.

Starting the new millennium, he released a greatest hits salsa album titled “Desde el principio.” After that, Marc Anthony went on a extensive tour that took him through the United States. All magazines and press talked about his triumphant concert at Madison Square Garden. Then he was in Canada and Central America. At that time, Marc Anthony received the admiration of his fans when he helped with his charitable work for the victims of Hurricane George, in sum, he founded a foundation that bears his name.

International tours

In 2011, he started the Dos Mundos Tour, with the company of Alejandro Fernández , a concert across Latin America. The following year, he was in Colombia at the Manacacías Summer Festival, many people from different parts of the country traveled to attend his concert. He had a significant participation in the 53rd International Song Festival of Viña del Mar, Chile, where he sang the song “¿Y cómo es él?” from his album “Iconos”. He received the highest distinction.

On March 3, 2012, Marc returned to Uruguay after 17 years and gave his performance at the Charrúa Stadium in Montevideo with an attendance of 25,000 spectators. In the GIGANT3S TOUR, he performed in several North American cities alongside Chayanne and Marco Antonio Solís . In 2013, he released his album 3.0. In 2014, he was the big winner of four of the five awards for which he was nominated at the Premios Lo Nuestro. Additionally, his career was recognized as one of the most successful Latin music artists. In 2016, he released a song called “Deja que te bese” with the collaboration of Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz, the song has over 50 million views on Youtube.

In September 2016, he carried out his “Marc Anthony Live” tour which included 5 dates at Radio City Music Hall. His private life has been somewhat controversial and has been exposed to various comments. He had his first daughter in 1994, Arianna Rosado-Muñiz, a product of his relationship with a former police officer from New York. In 2000 he married for the first time to Dayanara Torres, with whom he had two children. He later helped Jennifer Lopez in the production of the song “Sway” for the soundtrack of the movie Shall We Dance?. They then fell in love and after only one month of relationship, they got engaged in March 2004.

The couple had twins and Jennifer sold the exclusive photos of the children to People Magazine. However, after a few years, the couple decided to end their marriage on April 9, 2012. It is said that everything started when Jennifer Lopez met dancer Casper Smart and began a relationship with him two months after her separation from Marc. Later, Marc started a relationship with Venezuelan model Shannon de Lima, whom he married in 2014. Despite this, his relationship with Jennifer, the mother of his children, is harmonious, and he even participated in her song “Olvídame y pega la vuelta” in 2016. Two years earlier, the Puerto Rican singer made an impact with the hit song “Flor Pálida”.

On January 28, 2023, he married Nadia Ferreira in an incredible wedding surrounded by stars from film, music, and sports. The ceremony took place at the Perez Art Museum in Miami, with David Beckham as the best man.

  Ver esta publicación en Instagram   Una publicación compartida por Nadia Ferreira (@nadiatferreira)

Paul McCartney

Biography of Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney (born June 18, 1942) is a singer. He was born in Liverpool, England. His mother, Mary Patricia, was a nurse, while his father, James McCartney, was a volunteer firefighter. During Paul’s birth, his father was not present as he was fighting in the Battle of England during World War II. Paul grew up in a religious and strict environment, with his mother Catholic and his father Protestant, but later became agnostic. After returning from the war, his father devoted himself to selling cleaning products and, in his free time, played in bars.

Death of his mother

That’s why his son developed a deep love for music. He stood out in school for his intelligence and discipline and studied at Liverpool Institute secondary school, a good free secondary school. In 1954, he met George Harrison, with whom he quickly formed a strong friendship. At the time, McCartney’s mother was the one who kept the household and for work reasons they moved to Allerton, where they lived until 1964. On October 31, 1956, when McCartney was 14 years old, his mother died from a stroke.

After his mother’s death, McCartney was devastated. It took some time for him to return to normal. H is father saw music as a refuge to help his son feel better, so he took him to listen to the Jim Mac’s Jazz Band, where his father played trumpet or piano. He also gave him a trumpet, but when rock and roll became popular, he chose an acoustic guitar. The first song he composed was “I Lost My Little Girl” on that guitar, a Zenith. He also composed “When I’m Sixty-Four” on the home piano.

1957 – Met John Lennon

He met Lennon on July 6th, 1957. McCartney joined The Quarrymen, a school band led by Lennon, in 1958 as the lead guitarist. The band mixed rock and roll and skiffle, a popular music style, with jazz and blues. After several name changes, the band decided to call themselves The Beatles in August 1960 and recruited drummer Pete Best for their move to Hamburg. In 1961, one of its members, Sutcliffe, left the band and McCartney was forced to take over as bassist. They recorded as a backing band for English singer Tony Sheridan on the single My Bonnie.

1963 – “Beatlemania”

They managed to attract the attention of Brian Epstein, who became their manager in January 1962 and a key figure in their later success. With their first hit, “Love Me Do” in 1963, the “Beatlemania” began. John Lennon and Paul wrote a large number of songs together, but later their egos collided and they preferred to write separately. In 1970, The Beatles disbanded. But Paul continued his successful career with songs that reached number one. He recorded his first solo LP, “McCartney”, with songs very different from those that Lennon would write, with commercial melodies for varied tastes.

1980 – Paul McCartney Guinness Records

In 1980, he entered the Guinness Book of Records as the highest-selling songwriter in the world. His theme Yesterday , one of the most celebrated by The Beatles , has around 2,500 versions in the most diverse musical styles. Some of his solo hits are: Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, Live and Let Die for the James Bond film received the Oscar for best musical theme; Coming Up from his solo album Paul McCartney II. He joined George Martin and Ringo Starr in 1982 for the recording of Tug of War. On Press to play, his next album, was recorded with Eric Stewart.

Awards, arrest, record.

Winner of 18 Grammy Awards, including two Lifetime Achievement Grammy Awards (one with the Beatles and another as a solo artist). He is a vegetarian and an animal rights advocate. He was arrested for marijuana possession in Tokyo in 1980 and was briefly in jail. He participated in the “Live Aid” concert against hunger in Ethiopia in 1985. I n 1990, he achieved the record for the largest attendance at a concert with 184,000 people in Rio de Janeiro. Since 1997 he is Sir Paul McCartney, invested as a knight by Queen Elizabeth II.

2013 – Other awards, marriages.

On February 10, 2013, he received a Grammy for “Best Traditional Pop Album” for his album “Kisses On The Bottom”. Later, he received a special award from PRS for Music in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the composition of his most famous song, “ Yesterday “. These songs, as well as “And I Love Her,” “You Will Not See Me,” and “I’m Looking Through You,” were written inspired by his relationship with British actress Jane Asher. After five years of engagement, the couple broke up due to his infidelity with Francie Schwartz. He married Linda Eastman on March 12, 1969, and together they formed the musical group Wings after the dissolution of the Beatles . In 1999, he presented his collection of poems entitled “Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics (1965-1999)”. After the death of his wife, McCartney experienced deep sadness.

In 2002, Paul McCartney married former model Heather Mills in an Irish castle. After a long legal battle in the London Supreme Court, in 2008 Mills was authorized to collect one fifth of the 250 million dollars she had demanded from McCartney for their four-year marriage. In 2011, McCartney married Nancy Shevell in a civil ceremony in London on October 9th of that year.

Relevant aspects of his life and musical career

• With 60 gold records and the sale of over 100 million albums and singles as a solo artist and with The Beatles, McCartney is recognized as one of the most successful composers and artists of all time.
• As a solo artist in 1999 and as a member of The Beatles in 1988, he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice.
• As a solo artist and with The Beatles, he has been recognized with twenty-one Grammy Awards.
• 32 of the songs that McCartney has written or co-written have reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
• As of 2014, he had sold over 15 million certified units by the RIAA in the United States.
• In 1997, McCartney was elevated to the rank of knight for his services to music.
• In 1965, McCartney, Lennon, Harrison and Starr were named members of the Order of the British Empire .
• He has been married three times and is the father of five children.
• He has participated in projects to help international charities related to issues such as animal rights, seal hunting, landmine cleaning, vegetarianism, poverty and musical education.
• He ranks 11th on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Singers.
• He ranks first on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Artists as a member of The Beatles.
• He ranks third on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Bassists.
• Only surpassed by Bob Dylan , he ranks second on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Songwriters.

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Taylor Swift Web

Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania. Swift spent her early years on her family’s Christmas tree farm in nearby Wyomissing. Her grandmother had been a professional opera singer, and Swift soon followed in her footsteps. By the age of 10, Swift was singing at a variety of local events, including fairs and contests. She sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a Philadelphia 76ers basketball game at the age of 11, and began writing her own songs and learning guitar at 12 years old.

To pursue her music career, Swift often visited Nashville, Tennessee, the country music capital. There she co-wrote songs and tried to land a recording contract. Noting her dedication, Swift and her family moved to nearby Hendersonville, Tennessee, in an attempt to further Swift’s career.

A stellar performance at The Bluebird Café in Nashville helped Swift get a contract with Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine Records. She released her first single, “Tim McGraw,” in 2006, and the song became a Top 10 hit on the country charts. It also appeared on her self-titled debut album in October of that same year, which went on to sell more than 5 million copies. More popular singles soon followed, including “Our Song,” a No. 1 country music hit. “Teardrops on My Guitar,” “Picture to Burn” and “Should’ve Said No” were also successful tracks.

Swift also received critical praise for her debut effort. She won the Horizon Award from the Country Music Association (CMA) and the Academy of Country Music (ACM) Award for Top New Female Vocalist in 2007. Swift next released  Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection  that year. Her renditions of “Silent Night” and “Santa Baby” were modest hits on the country charts.

In 2008, Swift was nominated for a Grammy in the Best New Artist category and won other accolades, including the ACM’s Female Vocalist of the Year Award. Around this same time, Swift released her next album,  Fearless , which hit the top of both the country and pop charts and stayed there for 11 weeks. By the end of the year, Swift had become the highest-selling country artist of 2008.

Swift netted several awards for her work on  Fearless , including Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year for “Love Story” at the 2009 CMT Music Awards. That year Swift also won the MTV Video Music Award’s Best Female Video, for “You Belong With Me,” making her the first country music star to earn a VMA. The win stirred controversy when rapper Kanye West leaped to the stage during Swift’s speech, took the microphone and declared that R&B singer Beyoncé should have won Swift’s award.

The stunned Swift was unable to make her acceptance speech, and West was removed from the show. When Beyoncé accepted her award for Best Video of the Year later in the show, she called Swift to the stage to finish her speech. West later apologized to Swift privately, and made a public apology on  The Jay Leno Show .

Swift soon became an even hotter commodity. Her concert tickets began selling out in less than two minutes, and she also made her second appearance on the comedy show  Saturday Night Live , this time as both the host and musical guest. Additionally, in 2010 she became the youngest artist to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, for  Fearless .

That year Swift released a new album,  Speak Now , which featured the hit songs “Mean,” “Ours” and “Sparks Fly.” The album was a success, debuting at No. 1 on the  Billboard  200 chart and selling more than 1 million copies in its first week. She followed with  Red  (2012), which featured the hit single “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and also topped 1 million in its first week of sales.

Swift was ranked  Forbes  magazine’s highest paid celebrity under 30 in 2012, beating out Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Lady Gaga with earnings of $57 million. The following year, the musician shared some of her fortune to help others, funding the $4 million Taylor Swift Education Center at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. The facility opened with three classrooms, a learning lab and a space dedicated to exhibits for children. In an interview with  CMT Hot 20 Countdown , she explained that “music education is really such an important part of my life. My life changed so completely when I discovered writing my own songs and playing guitar, and that can’t necessarily all be taught to you in school because there aren’t enough hours in the day.”

In 2013, Swift was also honored with the CMA Pinnacle Award for her achievements as a country music performer and for her “positive impact” on country music, according to the CMA website. She picked up two other wins for her collaboration with Tim McGraw and Keith Urban at the CMA Awards ceremony held that November. Swift’s winning streak continued at the American Music Awards, as she picked up the AMA Award for Artist of the Year for the third consecutive time, among other wins.

With her next effort, Swift seemed to step further away from her country music roots. She released  1989 , her most pop-sounding record to date, in October 2014. “Shake It Off” proved to be one of the catchiest tracks of the year, reaching the top of the pop charts, and she immediately followed with a second chart-topping single, “Blank Space.” In an age of low album sales,  1989  moved more than 1.2 million copies in its first week, making Swift the first artist to top the 1 million mark in opening-week sales for three albums.

Swift continued to play with her public persona with the track “Bad Blood,” which features Kendrick Lamar. In the video for the song, which debuted at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards and doubles as a noir action short, she appears as a tough, cutthroat character called “Catastrophe.” Swift recruited other celebrities to appear in the video as well, including Karlie Kloss, Cindy Crawford and Lena Dunham. 

In February 2016, Swift opened up the 58th Annual Grammy Awards with another track from  1989 , “Out of the Woods.” Having received pre-telecast awards for Best Music Video and Best Pop Vocal Album, later in the evening Swift won another Grammy for Album of the Year, making music history as the first woman to win the award twice. 

In what was seen as a sharp rebuke to a new Kanye West song in which he took credit for her fame, Swift used her acceptance speech to issue an empowerment statement. “I wanna say to all the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame,” she said. “But if you just focus on the work, and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you’re going, you’ll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who loved you who put you there. And that will be the greatest feeling in the world.”

Swift took a break from the spotlight after the massive success of  1989 . However, she resurfaced in August 2017 when she testified in a trial against David Mueller, a former radio DJ she had accused of groping her in 2013. Mueller denied Swift’s allegations and said the incident cost him his job, which led him to sue Swift, her mother and a radio station employee in 2015. Swift countersued him for alleged assault and battery, and a jury ruled in her favor in 2017, awarding her $1 in damages as a symbolic gesture.

Swift responded to the verdict in a statement: “I acknowledge the privilege that I benefit from in life, in society and in my ability to shoulder the enormous cost of defending myself in a trial like this. My hope is to help those whose voices should also be heard. Therefore, I will be making donations in the near future to multiple organizations that help sexual assault victims defend themselves.

That year, Swift was also on the receiving end a lawsuit, when two songwriters claimed that she stole the chorus of their song “Playas Gon’ Play” for her hit “Shake It Off.” Although a judge dismissed the case in early 2018, on the grounds that the “allegedly infringed lyrics are short phrases that lack the modicum of originality and creativity required for copyright protection,” an appeals court revived the suit in October 2019.

In late August 2017, using an image of a snake, Swift revealed that she would release her sixth studio album,  r eputation , in November. The image of a snake is a reference to when Kim Kardashian called Swift a “snake” on Twitter in 2016, after Swift denied that she granted Kanye West permission to use her name in his song “Famous.”

Swift debuted the first single, “Look What You Made Me Do,” on August 24. In the music video, Swift played characters of all her misrepresentations. The video had more than 19 million views on YouTube within the first day.

Days before  reputation ‘s scheduled November 10 release, its secretive tracklist was leaked to social media. Swift responded by posting the complete list to her Instagram page, its 15 songs including a collaborative effort with Ed Sheeran and rapper Future, titled “End Game.” The two later appeared in the video for the track, which debuted in January 2018.

reputation  sold 1.05 million copies in the U.S. over its first four days. Along with giving the artist her fourth consecutive album to surpass 1 million in sales for its opening week, that total made  r eputation  the top-selling album of 2017. Its success continued into 2018, surpassing 2 million in sales while generating the release of seven singles. By the end of the year,  reputation  had been honored with Favorite Pop/Rock Album at the AMAs and Top Selling Album at the Billboard Music Awards.

Along with her musical success, Swift in 2018 was cast in a live-action adaptation of the famed Broadway musical  Cats , along with Jennifer Hudson, James Corden and Rebel Wilson.

On April 26, 2019, Swift debuted the duet “ME!” with Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco, along with a video of the two singing and dancing amid a panoply of elaborate sets and swirling colors. In mid-June the artist dropped the single “You Need to Calm Down” and revealed the name of her upcoming album,  Lover .

In late June, Swift revealed her dismay that her catalog of music from her first six albums, up to  reputation , had been sold by her first label to a company owned by Scooter Braun, manager of artists like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande and a person she accused of bullying tactics. “Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy,” she wrote on Tumblr. “Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.”

Just before the August 23 release of  Lover , Swift confirmed she would rerecord her old music to regain artistic and financial control of her catalog. Later that year, she claimed a whopping six wins at the American Music Awards, including artist of the year and artist of the decade honors.

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All 11 of Taylor Swift's No. 1 songs ranked ahead of her 11th album release

When you hear someone say " Taylor Swift " you may think of her fashion , her famous friends or those outrageous conspiracy theories.

But what truly makes Swift exceptional is her music. She is the first artist to have a billion-dollar-grossing tour . The first person to win the album of the year Grammy four times . She owns Billboard Hot 100 records for the female artist with the most-charted songs (231), most Top 40 songs (137), most Top-10 songs (49) and second-most No. 1 debuts (six). And those are just a sampling of Swift’s record-breaking success in recent years

In anticipation of Swift’s 11th studio album, “ The Tortured Poets Department ,” arriving Friday and poised to break more musical records, we’ve ranked her 11 No. 1 hits (and yes, she probably would appreciate the numerical symmetry to her new album).

11. ‘Willow’ (2020)

The wispy ballad from “Evermore” dances prettily with its spine of acoustic guitar and a lilting chorus. But, like many of the songs on Swift’s second foray into folk-leaning pop, it’s airy to the point of fluttering into the ether.

10. ‘Bad Blood’ (2015)

As the fourth single from Swift’s “1989” album, there was hardly anything to prove following No. 1 hits in “Shake It Off” and “Blank Space” and a Top 10 entry with the gliding “Style.” But the song, while gently biting in its contention of good times gone sour, is remembered less for its repetitive chorus and more for setting the foundation for the snarling “Look What You Made Me Do” on her next album.

9. ‘Cardigan’ (2020)

“Folklore,” the album that birthed Swift’s sixth No. 1 hit, arrived as a welcome surprise a few months into the pandemic's lonely lockdowns. The exchange of glistening synths from her previous release, “Lover,” to the soft piano and hazy production from Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff on this lead single from “Folklore” surprised fans. But they quickly embraced the new vibe as she retreated to a world of enchanted forests and moss-covered pianos.

8. ‘Cruel Summer’ (2023)

Follow along: The song resides on 2019’s “Lover.” The COVID-19 pandemic nixed plans to release it as a single in 2020. The melodic synth-pop ditty – always a fan favorite, and apparently one of Swift’s as well – resurfaced during her Eras Tour when it debuted in March 2023 and became a viral hit, returning to the Billboard Hot 100 in June 2023. The swirly, girly pop anthem crept to No. 1 to mark her 10th chart-topper.

7. ‘All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)’ (2021)

The much-publicized, admirably savvy decision by Swift to rerecord her albums so she would own her masters allowed her to release the full 10-minute presentation (aka “Taylor’s Version”) of the winding breakup ballad initially released on her 2012 “Red” album. It’s one of her most verbose, but with its vivid storytelling about making sense of wounding memories , the time flies.

6. ‘Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version)’ (2023)

Fans think the venom-spiked lyrics target former boyfriend Harry Styles. Whoever she's singing about, Swift’s most recent No. 1 that was delivered as a bonus track on “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” is a winsome marriage of layered background vocals and stinging words. “If she has blue eyes, I will surmise that you’ll probably date her,” Swift delivers with sarcastic precision. That the vitriol is softened by a plush melody hardly diminishes the verbal blows.

5. ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ (2012)

Swift ascended to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time with this stomper, her inaugural slide from full country heroine to pop starlet. As she smacks back a paramour who tries to return to her good graces, Swift conserves her brawniest words for a spoken-word bridge that highlights her relatability: “Ugh, so he calls me up and he’s like, ‘I still love you’ and I’m like, I just, I mean, this is just exhausting, you know?”  

4. 'Shake It Off' (2014)

A perky pop bauble that sounds slight, but is undoubtedly irresistible. Swift is so musically canny that she fuses ‘80s-era synths with a ‘60s-era girl group sheen and makes it sound unique. The song is not only an undeniable concert highlight, but its straightforward directive in the chorus still serves as a useful reminder on tough days.

3. ‘Anti-Hero’ (2022)

Her confidence as a songwriter clearly boosted from her poetic musings on “Folklore” and “Evermore,” Swift returned in 2022 with “Midnights” and its lead single showcased internal screw-ups and apologies with unflinching honesty. Shades of Kate Bush are insinuated in the dark melody, but the real hero is the ready-made T-shirt slogan, “It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem, it’s me.”

2. ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ (2017)

Swift has never dodged a fight, and she made clear on this searing slice of electropop that if you want to come for the queen, you best be ready. In a way, the song signaled a rebirth for Swift, who proved – as if she needed to – that the cute girl in the tennis sneakers was equally as capable as donning a snake-inspired cat suit and extending her claws.

1. ‘Blank Space’ (2014)

Swift’s l y rical mastery presents itself in nearly every song she’s ever penned – even a seemingly simplistic chorus in “Welcome To New York” is laced with knowing nods – but this “1989” standout best exposes her genius. The clip-clop beat, the staccato delivery, the seesawing between flirty (“I can make the bad guys good for a weekend”) and daring (“I’ve got a blank space, baby, and I’ll write your name”) are all wicked delights. But the song also contains perhaps the best line she’s ever written: “Darling, I’m a nightmare dressed like a daydream.” Swiftian perfection.

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A new taylor swift biography for kids hits the bestsellers chart (and it’s on sale for $5).

The paperback tracks the singer's rise to fame, from her small-town beginnings in Pennsylvania to her travels around the globe.

By Tim Chan

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Taylor Swift fans have a few more weeks to wait until her new album is released , but Swifties can spring for a new Taylor-inspired book in the meantime, that’s topping the charts online.

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Courtney love says taylor swift is "not important," disses beyoncé's 'cowboy carter', taylor swift reacts to ryan gosling and emily blunt's cover of "all too well" on 'snl'.

Though it’s written for children ages 8-12, the new book is suitable for fans of all ages, and makes a great gift idea too.

Listed at a suggested manufacturer’s price of $6.99, Amazon has the new Taylor Swift biography on sale for just $5 as of this writing. The 112-page book is available on paperback, hardcover, for Kindle and as an audiobook on Audible (which you can listen to free with a free trial to Audible here ).

While this isn’t an official release from Swift’s camp, the book does hail from publishers Penguin Workshop, whose best-selling Who Was? series tells the stories of “important scientists, artists, writers, athletes, changemakers, and musicians,” in “inviting and digestible packages” for middle-grade readers.

As the publisher notes detail, “Since the release of her self-titled debut album in 2006, Taylor Swift has dominated the music charts, reinvented her sound, won numerous awards, shaken off public criticism, and spoken up for herself and others. Whether you’re a lifelong Swiftie or someone who just loves learning about musicians, this enchanting book will teach you all about the experiences that helped Taylor Swift become the successful superstar many kids and adults looks up to.”

Who Is Taylor Swift? is written by Kirsten Anderson, whose other titles include  Who Is Zendaya?  and  Who Is Kamala Harris? The young adult book also features illustrations from Gregory Copeland, an award-winning artists whose work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators New York, Communication Arts Illustration Annual, and 200 Best Illustrators Worldwide, among others.

The book comes on the heels of an unofficial Taylor Swift fan journal that was released last year, in the middle of the singer’s record-breaking Eras Tour.

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Taylor Swift: The Biography of Taylor Swift Paperback – June 9, 2023

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• Print length 57 pages
• Language English
• Publication date June 9, 2023
• Dimensions 5 x 0.15 x 8 inches
• ISBN-13 979-8397699631
• See all details

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Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C7J7BRF5
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (June 9, 2023)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 57 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8397699631
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.39 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.15 x 8 inches
• #38 in Pop Artist Biographies
• #102 in Popular Music (Books)
• #536 in Rich & Famous Biographies

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University press.

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Taylor Swift Mural in Chicago Contains a Secret ‘Tortured Poets Department’ Message

The countdown to Taylor Swift ’s The Tortured Poets Department is on, but what does the number “321” mean?

That was the question facing Swifties in Chicago on Monday, April 15, after a mural went up on a building at 33 W. Grand Avenue, according to the Chicago Sun-Times . Painters put up a black-and-white piece on the side of the Windy City building, and when done, onlookers saw a QR code amid a mass of messy lettering.

Upon closer look, both the type and the QR code itself were made up of lowercase “ttpd” letters and the number “13.” The text was painted as if it came straight from the typewriter Swift, 34, has used in the promotional material for the album arriving Friday, April 19.

Those who scanned the QR code with their phones discovered a secret, unlisted Short on Swift’s official YouTube page . The video shows an ink-smudged piece of paper, the words “ERROR 321” being typed out slowly. There seems to be a faded “13” in the paper, which scrolls down once “ERROR 321” is typed out.

Related: Everything to Know About 'The Tortured Poets Department'

This is not the first time Swifties have been graced by “Error 321.” Hours before Swift announced TTPD after winning Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2024 Grammys, her official website went down. Fans who attempted to access it were greeted with what looked like a bunch of code, along with a message: “Error 321 Backend fetch failed / Backend fetch failed / hneriergrd / DPT: 321 / Vanish Cache Server.”

🚨| The QR code in Chicago for Taylor Swift’s “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT” is near completion #TSTTPD pic.twitter.com/Iun2Ca3krK — The Eras Tour (@tswifterastour) April 15, 2024

Fans quickly decoded the jumble of letters to read “red herring” and “DPT” as the reverse initials for the Tortured Poets Department .

Swift, 34, has dropped many clues ahead of TTPD ’s release, including words hidden within the Apple Music lyric pages for her music. After the platform’s X account changed its bio to read “a word a day till the [Swift] album drops,” fans began a frantic search. Soon, they discovered capitalized letters within the lyric page for “Glitch,” a song off Midnights . The letters spelled out the word “Hereby.”

Since then, the other words uncovered were “Conduct” and “This.” Some fans theorize that the message with the Apple Music easter eggs will be “I Hereby Conduct This,” with others theorizing the next word is “ POST .”

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The rollout of TTPD has led some fans to reevaluate Swift’s relationship with actor Joe Alwyn. Swift and Alwyn, 33, broke up in April 2023 after six years of dating. Although their breakup seemed amicable, insiders told Us Weekly that Alwyn wasn’t prepared to deal with the fame and scrutiny that came with dating one of the most famous artists on the planet.

Related: News of Taylor Swift, Joe Alwyn's Split Broke 1 Year Ago: What Happened Next

Yet, fans’ perception of Alwyn seemingly shifted after Swift released a series of Apple Music playlists, each one dealing with the stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance). Fans noticed that many of the tracks on the “Denial” playlist were believed to be about Alwyn or cowritten by him under his William Bowery pen name. The title track of Lover , her 2019 album, was also included.

When releasing the playlist, Swift said these were songs about ”getting so caught up in the idea of something that you have a hard time seeing the red flags possibly resulting in moments of denial and maybe a little bit of delusion.”

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